Frankfurt, 03/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - Whereas the Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided on Thursday to leave its rates unchanged (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8), ECB President Wim Duisenberg hinted, at his press conference, that rates could be raised quite soon. Stressing that there were "risks to price stability in the medium-term" (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8), Mr. Duisenberg added: "There can be no doubt in anybody's mind what the direction of monetary policy will be in the near future". Which experts interpreted as an allusion to a further increase in interest rates, probably of 25% at he meeting of the Governing Council on 30 March or that of 13 April. Mr. Duisenberg also reaffirmed: "We do believe that a strong euro is in the interest of Europe (…) But most of all, we are interested in a stable euro".
Mr. Duisenberg also denied that the ECB had intervened in the market to defend the European currency, but said that there had been interventions on the Tokyo market that had weakened the euro.