European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure said that short-term interest rates will remain at "very low levels" in the eurozone for the immediate future as the central bank is still falling short of its inflation target, City A.M. reported.
"Inflation is not quite where we would like it to be," Coeure told French radio station BFM Business. The central bank has an inflation target of below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.
"It is very clear to us that short-term interest rates, the ones that are controlled by the central bank, will remain at very low levels, far beyond the horizon of our asset purchases," he added.
Coeure also said that the ECB's council of governors had not discussed the scenario under which a first rate hike in the euro area could take place in mid-2019. The central bank dropped its dovish bias on its asset purchase program in its latest monetary policy decision on March 8.
