European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos: The European Central Bank can adopt an optimistic stance towards inflation.

European Central Bank Vice President Kandos stated that the ECB is confident that it will restore the inflation rate to the target level of 2%. Although the latest forecasts foresee a decline close to this level by the end of this year, the strengthening of the euro, falling commodity prices, and economic uncertainty will further suppress prices. He stated that this will be a "decisive factor" in determining whether to continue cutting interest rates. Kandos said, "We are optimistic that we will continue to achieve our inflation target." Kandos also stated, "Uncertainty is always detrimental to the economy. We already pointed out these downside risks in our forecasts in March. These risks are now becoming a reality. Our baseline scenario continues to assume very low economic growth, but positive - significantly below potential growth. However, I do not believe that the euro area will fall into recession. We are closely monitoring service sector inflation, which is significantly affected by wages. Wage growth is also slowing down here. In addition, we do not have exchange rate targets, but we are closely monitoring exchange rates. This is an important economic indicator for assessing risks to price stability. The key is to maintain low exchange rate volatility." Kandos believes that the independence of the central bank is crucial. This is essential for credibility and therefore key to fighting inflation.