Survey: European Central Bank to cut interest rates in September and December, with a tendency towards fewer cuts.

Golden Ten Data on July 11, the vast majority of analysts polled by Reuters believe that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates twice more in September and December this year. They said the balance of risk favors only one more rate cut before the end of the year. Several Central Bank members, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, hinted after announcing interest rate cuts in June that they are in no hurry to further drop borrowing costs as inflation’s key services component remains stubbornly high. This, combined with a record-low unemployment rate and an accelerating wage rise, has raised some doubts about future rate cuts. Although the 85 economists surveyed all expect the European Central Bank to keep the Intrerest Rate unchanged on July 18, more than 80% of economists expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates twice this year, in September and December, bringing the Intrerest Rate to 3.25%. Bas van Geffen, strategist at Rabobank Netherlands, said: “We believe inflation is stickier than the models currently forecast by Central Bank in Europe, which means they will be inclined to cut rates gradually, unless there is a significant change in their forecasts or the data that has been realized makes people more skeptical about the outlook.”