ECB's Centeno: international market price falls yet to reach consumers

[June 16, 2023]  LISBON (Reuters) - Declines in the international market prices of raw materials, energy and food products will need to start making their mark on consumer goods or interest rates will have to be raised further, ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno said on Friday.  

European Central Bank (ECB) governing council member Mario Centeno speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Lisbon, Portugal, March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes/File Photo

"The overwhelming majority of inflationary shocks, if not all, have now reversed," he told a news conference in Lisbon, adding that the full effects of the reversal had yet to reach final consumers.

The European Central Bank raised euro zone borrowing coststo their highest level in 22 years on Thursday and said stubbornly high inflation all but guaranteed another move next month and likely beyond that too.

While inflation remains high, Centeno said, interest rates will remain in restrictive territory, adding that he expected this to continue for some time after the summer.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Inti Landauro; editing by Emma Pinedo, Aislinn Laing and Kevin Liffey)

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