"If nothing unforeseen happens, then we should actually have passed the peak," Schnitzer told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Schnitzer said she did not see the need for the European Central Bank to raise interest rate by more than 0.5 percentage points in its next meeting on Feb. 2, adding that the ECB was facing a difficult balancing act and must act proportionately.

(Reporting by Reinhard Becker; Writing by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Miranda Murray)