Frankfurt — The European Central Bank (ECB) should not wait too long before paring back stimulus once it is convinced that inflation has recovered, and it could in theory increase rates early if necessary, ECB board member Benoit Coeure said. With eurozone inflation now just under 2% and growth on its best run for years, the ECB is coming under pressure from Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, to start winding down its €2.3-trillion bond-buying programme and start increasing its main policy rate, currently below zero. In an exclusive interview, Coeure, a long-standing supporter of ECB president Mario Draghi’s policy, said the bank should be ready to change its stance once economic conditions allowed, or it risked a bigger financial blowback when it eventually did so. "Too much gradualism in monetary policy bears the risk of larger market adjustments when the decision is eventually taken," Coeure said. He added that the ECB should not put too much weight on political events like ele...
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