ECB Cuts Just to Help Economy Not Right Approach, Holzmann Says

By Zoe Schneeweiss

December 13, 2024 at 4:19PM EST

Robert Holzmann, governor of Austria's central bank, during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Kansas City Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Moran, Wyoming, US, on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. Chair Jerome Powell said the time has come for the Federal Reserve to cut its key policy rate, affirming expectations that officials will begin lowering borrowing costs next month and making clear his intention to prevent further cooling in the labor market. (Natalie Behring/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- It would be wrong for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates with the sole purpose of stimulating the economy, according to Governing Council member Robert Holzmann.

“It isn’t the job of the ECB to boost the economy, the job of the ECB is price stability,” he told Austrian state broadcaster ORF in an interview late on Friday. “To lower rates now to crank up the economy would run contrary to our stance.”

Holzmann, who is among the most hawkish ECB rate setters, spoke a day after officials lowered borrowing costs for the fourth time since June. Policymakers expect to cut rates by another quarter point in January and probably also in March, according to officials familiar with their thinking.