ECB's Villeroy: spring interest rate cut remains probable

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will probably start cutting rates during the spring, between April and June 21, as the "victory" against inflation is in sight, French central bank head and ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday.

"The consequences we, at the European Central Bank, should draw is probably to cut rates in the spring and I remind you that in France and Europe this is a season that lasts from April to June 21," he told France Info TV.

He also reiterated that the inflation rate in France should fall to 2% next year. The Bank of France had trimmed its French economic growth forecasts for 2024 on Tuesday, forecasting growth of 0.8% for this year, down from an estimate of 0.9% growth in December.

ECB chief Christine Lagarde earlier this month hinted strongly that a long-awaited rate cut would be more likely to happen at the central bank's meeting in early June, rather than in April.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

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