Panetta Says ECB Cuts Now Avoid ‘Tardy and Hasty’ Action Later

  • Tight Fed policy is ‘not a constraint’ on ECB, he says
  • Bank of Italy chief says rate stance will still remain tight

Fabio Panetta

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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The European Central Bank shouldn’t delay interest-rate cuts because doing so can just end up forcing more drastic action at a later stage, Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said.

Delivering his first annual speech in Rome, the Bank of Italy governor signaled that a steady descent in borrowing costs still won’t end constriction on the economy, and that officials shouldn’t fear diverging from the US Federal Reserve.