Alvaro Santos Pereira, a member of the European Central Bank Governing Council and Governor of the Bank of Portugal, said the ECB should act sooner rather than later to address high consumer price inflation. He stressed the risks of inflationary spirals and the importance of swift, decisive measures to avoid more severe second-order effects later on [1, 2, 3].
“I think it’s better to act sooner rather than later so that we don’t have much greater second-order effects later on. When there are potential inflationary spirals, I prefer that we act more quickly and decisively,” Pereira said in a May 30 interview [1]. He also warned that relying on inflation to improve on its own or hoping for a "miracle" to prevent secondary impacts is very dangerous [3].
Pereira pointed to persistent consumer price pressures driven by energy, food, and wage dynamics. He highlighted geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that have raised costs for energy and fertilizer as additional factors sustaining inflation [3].
His comments reflect a hawkish stance within the ECB, calling for a proactive policy response to inflation risks [3]. Pereira's call comes amid concern that delaying action could lead to more entrenched inflation and larger economic disruptions.
Pereira’s statements were made during an interview on May 30, signaling urgency for the ECB to reconsider its current timing and approach toward monetary tightening [1, 2, 3].
