ECB's Makhlouf says it is 'far, far' too early for rate cut discussion

DUBLIN (Reuters) - It is "far, far too early" to start talking about when the European Central Bank might start cutting interest rates and equally too soon to rule out any further hikes, policymaker Gabriel Makhlouf said on Wednesday.

"It is far, far too early in my view to start talking about whether we need to start reducing or cutting rates... And also it is too early to declare that we have reached the top of the ladder (of interest rate hikes), to use a phrase," Makhlouf told an Irish central bank conference.

"We've got to look carefully at the data... I think the next few weeks before our meeting in December will be pretty important and as the IMF told us a few weeks ago, don't declare victory too soon. Because there's a historical pattern of victory being declared too soon."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries; Editing by Andrew Heavens)