HELSINKI, March 15 Reuters The European Central Bank council last week began a discussion on when to reduce interest rates, council member Olli Rehn said on Friday.

If inflation continues to fall and, according to our estimation, sustainably downwards towards the target, we can close to the summer already slowly start easing our foot off the brake pedal of monetary policy, Rehn said in a statement.

The European Central Bank kept borrowing costs at record high last week but policymakers indicated they were preparing for a first cut in interest rates.

Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik

Source Reuters