Inflation rates should not diverge in longer term, ECB's Kocher says

While the European Central Bank's focus is on average inflation across the euro zone, it is important that countries' inflation rates not move further apart in the longer term, policymaker Martin Kocher said in an interview published on Monday.

"What matters in Frankfurt is how the European economy has evolved and the average inflation rate in the euro zone. However, it is important that we not see a divergence in inflation rates in Europe in the longer term," Austrian newspaper Die Presse quoted Kocher as saying.