ECB's Villeroy de Galhau says deflation battle is not over

PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said central banks' recent struggle with deflationary forces was not finished and that getting inflation back to normal levels was a question of credibility.

"If you look at the last three decades, monetary policy waged two battles. One against very high inflation, in the 1980s, and it was a success," Villeroy de Galhau said in an interview in French daily Le Figaro's Wednesday edition.

"The other battle, a much more recent one, is being waged on the deflation front, and it's not over," Villeroy, who also sits on the European Central Bank's Governing Council, was quoted as saying.

Villeroy said the ECB was determined to uphold its mandate to bring back inflation to below but close to 2 percent, because weak inflation made the necessary deleveraging process of European countries more painful.

Asked if there was any limit to negative interest rates, Villeroy said neither the euro zone or Switzerland had experienced negative interest rates on household and SMEs deposits so far.

"That's maybe where the practical limit is," he said.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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