CNBC - The European Central Bank should cut interest rates in June to avoid falling behind the inflation curve, according to ECB policymaker Franois Villeroy de Galhau.
"The question is the next Governing Council which will be early June ... and here barring a major surprise we should cut rates because we are now confident enough and increasingly confident about the disinflationary path in the euro area," Bank of France Governor Villeroy told CNBC 's Karen Tso on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings.
Asked whether the bank missed an opportunity to moderate policy at its April meeting, Villeroy replied, "April belongs to the past. We had an intense discussion, an open one about the economic situation."
"There is now a very large consensus that it is time to take this insurance more or less against what I would call the second risk. The first risk is to act too early and let inflation go upwards again and this would be a danger," he continued. "But the second risk would be to be behind the curve and to pay a too high cost in terms of economic activity and employment."
His comments come shortly after the central bank recently gave its clearest indication yet that it could cut interest rates in June.
The ECB held interest rates steady at a record high for the fifth consecutive meeting last week but signaled that cooling inflation means it could begin trimming soon.
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