Governor Ante Žigman spoke with Bloomberg journalist Oliver Crook, and the written interview was prepared by Mark Schroer, Alexander Weber and Jasmina Kuzmanović. The interview was published on September 18, 2026.

ECB’s Zigman Warns Growth Is at Risk If Inflation Isn’t Tackled

The European Central Bank must get inflation under control as failing to do so would endanger economic expansion, Governing Council member Ante Zigman warned.

With stronger-than-expected growth in the second quarter, officials must focus on bringing inflation that’s currently above 3% back to the 2% goal, the Croatian central-bank chief told Bloomberg Television’s Oliver Crook on Thursday.

There’s “a lot of optimism for growth,” he said in his first interview with international media since taking office in June. “We really need to care about inflation, which also at the end can jeopardize the growth.”

Having just hiked interest rates for a second time, the ECB is gauging how much more it must do to get inflation back to target. With oil and natural gas prices jumping again, analysts see price gains climbing toward 4% in the coming months, though at the same time, the euro-area economy is so far weathering the Iran war fallout.

Markets are pricing at least three more hikes in the deposit rate from its current level of 2.5%. That would push far beyond the so-called neutral range, where borrowing costs neither stimulate nor curb economic activity. 

Officials including Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel have said mildly restrictive policy may be needed. Others like Executive Board member Piero Cipollone warn against tightening excessively.

Zigman said the ECB mustn’t focus too much on where the neutral rate is exactly. “For us it’s important, and especially for myself, that all inflation indicators are under control,” he said.

While price growth is elevated, he stressed that this hasn’t yet fed through to other parts of the economy, with wages still contained. He rejected the idea that the ECB is already in the adverse scenario in its latest outlook.

“For now, it’s still mostly related to the energy, mostly related to the geopolitics, which we know very well can be changed in a very short period of time,” he said. “Those other segments of inflation are still contained and we don’t see any major second-round effects.”

Asked about a potential back-to-back hike next month, Zigman said he expects “very intensive discussion and it’ll depend on the data which we are going to have at that moment.”

However, he emphasized that investors’ bets on aggressive tightening will not determine the ECB’s next steps.

“The markets are always speculating and they have their expectations and their rationale,” Zigman said. “We are not going to make our decision based on the market expectations.”