ECB in 'wait and see' mode about rate hikes: Nowotny

[July 09, 2018]  ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will take a "wait and see" approach to any tightening of monetary policy after it keeps negative rates on hold through the summer of 2019, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Monday.

Austria's National Bank, OeNB, Governor Ewald Nowotny speaks during an economics conference in Linz, Austria, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

The ECB decided month to end its 2.6 trillion euro bond purchase program by the close of the year but said rates would stay unchanged at least until next summer, a wording that pushed back rate hike expectations by three months to September 2019.

Nowotny told a financial seminar in Zurich that ECB head Mario Draghi had said at the time the central bank would not prejudge the timing of any rate hike. "He said wait and see and I think this is the answer we have to give for this," Nowotny said.

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields)

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