With pretty much all bets pointing to a quarter-point cut in the ECB’s benchmark deposit rate — the eighth one in a year — analysts are focusing on second-order aspects of today’s rate decision, which will be announced at 1:15pm BST today in Frankfurt.
Nomura economist Andrzej Szczepaniak points out that today’s vote is likely to be the first non-unanimous vote in a long time.
“This could be the first rate cut with actual dissenters rather than abstentions,” Szczepaniak wrote in a note to clients on Thursday ahead of the decision.
He added that Austrian governor Robert Holzmann, Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel, and ECB executive board member Isabel Schnabel “have all suggested they would not support a June rate cut”. Some might simply abstain, Szczepaniak added, but said “actual dissent is very likely”.
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