Tumpel-Gugerell Says Rates Should Be Consistent With Economy

European Central Bank Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said interest rates should be consistent with economic activity, suggesting she sees room for further monetary tightening.

“We have to keep in mind that our monetary policy stance is still accommodative, and the interest-rate level of course has to be consistent with the level of economic activity and with the risks to price stability,” Tumpel-Gugerell said yesterday in an interview at the ECB’s Frankfurt headquarters. “These elements taken together lead then to the appropriate interest-rate level.”