European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch spoke at a news conference on the Belgian national bank's annual report, stating that the ECB will have to make decisions soon with interest rate cuts, even while wage inflation and price rises for services remain high.

Key quotes

"We are going to have to make a bet at some point,"

felt the Bank should act "before so long", without specifying a month

"But it will remain a cautious move on the basis of what I know today because of the problem that has been commented on again and again and again that service inflation and wage developments are still running at levels that are ultimately not compatible with our objective.”

"But of course in our projections we have these going down so we are not going to wait until we see wage development at 3% before we cut rates. I guess we'll do it before and that's why I say it's important we need to take a bet