Fabio Panetta, a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank and President of the Bank of Italy, said that based on the significant slowdown in inflation in the Eurozone, the time for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates is now very close.
Panetta said that due to the effect of the European Central Bank's interest rate hikes, commodity demand has been significantly suppressed, coupled with the fall in energy prices, inflation has shrunk significantly, giving the European Central Bank room to ease monetary policy.
Market participants estimate that the European Central Bank will begin cutting interest rates as soon as June. However, members of the ECB's Governing Council have yet to make a clear stance on this.