As earnings turn out to be important to figuring out the outlook for inflation, the European Central Bank has stepped up its efforts to amass knowledge that’s usually solely revealed with a very long time lag and little element. This yr, the central financial institution began monitoring the quarterly calls when firm executives talk about monetary outcomes with analysts as a part of the policy-setting course of, Mr. Lane mentioned.

Headline charges of inflation within the eurozone have dropped significantly from their peak final yr, and on Thursday, knowledge confirmed that Spain’s inflation rate fell below 2 percent in June. But different measures of domestic price pressures are still quite strong. Inflation knowledge for the entire eurozone for June is about to be printed on Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg anticipate the headline price to say no to five.6 p.c, from 6.1 p.c in May, whereas core inflation, which excludes power and meals costs, is predicted to rise to five.5 p.c from 5.3 p.c.

Further forward, the central financial institution forecasts the headline price of inflation to be round 3 p.c subsequent yr. But there’s a danger that the “last kilometer” in attending to the goal proves more durable than anticipated, Mr. Lane mentioned, a priority echoed by the Bank for International Settlements, which acts as a financial institution for central banks.

“We do have a 2 percent target, we don’t have a 3 percent target,” Mr. Lane mentioned. “There’s still going to be a lot to do to go from 3 to 2 percent.”

Beyond July, when the central bank is expected to raise rates, Mr. Lane mentioned it was greatest to have “no signals” about what policymakers would do subsequent, due to all of the uncertainty in regards to the path of inflation, however he anticipated rates of interest to limit financial progress for “quite some time.”

Some different members of the financial institution’s Governing Council, nonetheless, have steered that rates of interest will need to rise again in September. And the financial institution’s president, Christine Lagarde, this week pushed again in opposition to traders’ expectations that rates of interest could be reduce subsequent yr, saying that financial coverage have to be “restrictive” and keep there “for as long as necessary.”