By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that the outlook was still too uncertain to judge whether additional interest rate increases would be needed in the euro area, while warning that inflation risks remained elevated and underlying price pressures required continued vigilance.

Kocher, who heads the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), said developments between now and the ECB’s late-October meeting could materially alter the picture, particularly through energy-sensitive prices and geopolitics.

“In that respect, I think nobody can seriously say how the situation will develop,” Kocher said at a press conference in Vienna.

He said inflation risks were currently high, but added that they could also change rapidly.

Kocher declined to validate market expectations for further tightening, saying it was too soon to draw conclusions about the next policy move.

“The markets do their job, we do our job,” he said.

He nevertheless stressed that the ECB remained determined to bring inflation back to its 2% target over the medium term.

In the OeNB’s latest interim forecast, also published Friday, Kocher highlighted continuing price pressures in services.

“The continued high rate of inflation in services shows at the same time that we also need to remain vigilant with regard to underlying inflation dynamics,” he said.

Kocher said upside risks to inflation had recently increased again in the euro area as a whole.