PARIS: France’s inflation peak will come in the first half of this year, French European Central Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday, adding inflation across the euro zone was still too high and remained the top priority for monetary policy.

“I can’t comment on interest rates, but what is very important is the inflation expectations”, Villeroy said, adding: “The peak will come this semester, and then inflation will halve by the end of the year.”

Central bankers were determined to bring inflation back towards the 2% target between end-2024 and end-2025, Villeroy said, saying they would do “whatever it takes” to reach that goal, echoing remarks made by ECB chief Christine Lagarde earlier this week.

Traders relaxed as ECB starts running down massive bond holdings

The ECB has already raised rates by 3 percentage points since July and essentially promised another half a percentage point increase on March 16, but investors have recently speculated on an even bigger move given poor inflation data.

Several policymakers have warned recently that ECB rate hikes need to continue until core inflation turns around and starts falling towards the ECB’s 2% target.