ECB’s Panetta: Interest rates should be kept at their current high level for longer

European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta, in a webinar on Thursday, supported keeping interest rates high for longer.

"Emphasising persistence may be particularly valuable in the current situation, where the policy rate is around the level necessary to deliver medium-term price stability, the risk of a de-anchoring of inflation expectations is low, inflation risks are balanced and economic activity is weak," Panetta said.