ECB's Lane says war clouds policy outlook beyond September

MADRID (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should start raising its policy rates in the third quarter but the path beyond September is clouded by the war in Ukraine and its impact on inflation, the ECB's chief economist Philip Lane said on Wednesday.

"What happens next is state contingent," Lane said at an event in Madrid.

"The uncertainty about the war... in interaction with the uncertainty about how quickly inflation will come down calls for optionality, flexibility and gradualism."

(Reporting By Jesus Aguado and Emma Pinedo; Writing by Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt; Editing by Toby Chopra)