The governor of the Bank of Portugal and member of the European Central Bank's governing council, Mario Centeno, said in an interview with Politico that the ECB may have to accelerate its pace of interest rate cuts, as data released since last week's rate cut suggests that economic growth and inflation could be lower than the ECB's new forecast. “Given where we are, in the monetary policy cycle, we really need to minimize the risk of keeping rates lower than expected, because this is the main risk,” Centeno said. Centeno's comments are the clearest sign so far that a rate cut in October remains possible. The ECB is grappling with a problem of how fast to loosen policy as the economy struggles to gain traction but also struggles to fully contain inflation. ECB President Christine Lagarde suggested last week that there would be no further action before December, coinciding with the ECB's second interest rate cut this year. While the ECB's chief economist Philip Lane confirmed on Monday that policymakers “should keep their options open” for an October rate cut, hawks on the Governing Council emphasized that “a significant shift would need to occur” to consider a consecutive rate cut. (Golden Ten)