Inflation fight: The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates in the spring after eurozone inflation dropped to 2.4%
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to cut interest rates in the spring after eurozone inflation dropped to 2.4 per cent in November from 2.9 per cent.
It means the UK is increasingly being left behind other advanced economies as it fights high inflation. The ECB was expected to begin cutting rates next September.
But economists have now pencilled in a possible reduction in the first half of 2024. It came as billionaire Bill Ackman is betting the US Federal Reserve will begin cutting rates in the first quarter of 2024.
Ackman, who is the Pershing Square Capital Management founder, said: ‘That’s the current macro bet that we have on.’
In the UK, inflation is 4.3 per cent, its lowest since June last year but well above the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent.
The decline in eurozone inflation was attributed mainly to falling energy and food prices. Eurozone interest rates are at a record 4 per cent and are expected to remain there at the ECB’s December meeting.