LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Euro zone inflation is falling as expected and will ease to 2% in the middle of next year after a choppy next few months, European Central Bank policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos said on Wednesday.
"Energy base effects, the unwinding of crisis-related fiscal measures and the relatively slow moderation of services inflation, will cause inflation rates to fluctuate during 2024, before reaching our 2% target in mid-2025," de Cos, Spain's central bank governor, said in London.
"We are increasingly confident that we are on the right track to achieve our 2% inflation target relatively soon," he said, echoing the words of Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot, another influential voice on the 26-member Governing Council.
Inflation held steady at 2.4% last month after a rapid slowdown in the past year and the ECB has already warned that some upticks in the coming months are likely, but that alone would not signal an end to disinflation.
Although many policymakers argue that higher energy prices, geopolitical tensions and stubborn services inflation pose a risk to price growth, de Cos said he considered risks to the outlook to be balanced. (Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe and Nell Mackenzie, Writing by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
