ECB’s Liikanen Sees Basic Math Signaling Inflation Over Goal
- Finnish central-bank chief Liikanen a bellwether for ECB mood
- Suggestion could heighten concerns in nations such as Germany
Bank Of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen.
Photographer: Henrik Kettunen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The European Central Bank is likely to exceed its inflation goal for a while after a long period of near-stagnant prices, Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said.
“You can never have average inflation close to 2 percent if you are never above 2; it’s arithmetic,” Liikanen, the Bank of Finland governor, said in an interview in Helsinki on Friday. “We must be consistent in both ways. My approach is symmetric in both directions.”