ECB can start cuts before Fed, says Finnish bank governor

FRANKFURT, May 22 (AFP): The European Central Bank (ECB) did not have to take its cues from the US Federal Reserve and could start to lower rates as soon as June, Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn told the newsw agency.
"While we don't make policy in a vacuum, the ECB is not the 13th Federal district of the US Federal Reserve," which is split into 12 zones, said Rehn.
"What the Fed does will not determine the case for a rate cut by the ECB," said Rehn. When inflation began to climb upwards, the Fed was faster to respond than the ECB, kicking off a series of interest rate hikes in March 2022.
ECB policymakers followed suit in July of that year, raising rates faster and farther than ever before in the history of the eurozone.