ECB Must Cut Rates Next Month on Poor Economy, Kazaks Says

(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank should lower interest rates next month, according to Governing Council member Martins Kazaks.

“Of course there will be a discussion, but my conviction is that looking at what’s happening at the moment in the European economy, there has to follow another rate cut already in December,” he told Latvia’s public broadcaster in a television interview on Monday.

The ECB has already reduced interest rates three times and is expected to do so again next month. Markets are betting that move could be a bigger half point cut after poor PMI data on Friday showed an unexpected contraction in the euro area’s private-sector economy.

Still, data later this week are expected to show an uptick in inflation above the ECB’s 2% target in November.