ECB's Makhlouf backs June interest rate cut

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should be able to cut interest rates in June, policymaker Gabriel Makhlouf said on Friday.

"My current view is that the picture should be sufficiently clearer when the Governing Council meets in June (as we will have a lot more information – particularly on wage dynamics – available in our deliberations) to give us sufficient confidence to make monetary less restrictive," he said in a blog post on the Irish central bank's website.

The European Central Bank kept borrowing costs at a record high last week, but policymakers indicated that they were preparing for a first cut in interest rates.

"The fight against inflation is being won with a disinflation process well underway," Makhlouf wrote.

"But a global environment that is characterised by economic and market uncertainty, rapid technological change, geopolitical tensions and regional conflicts also means that we need to remain focused on managing the risks to the achievement of the monetary and financial stability that our communities want."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by William James and Hugh Lawson)

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