Euro zone inflation is not yet consistent with underlying monetary and price stability, outgoing Italian central bank governor Ignazio Visco said on Wednesday.

"A (monetary policy) reaction was necessary, exactly because of the second-round effects that have kept and are still keeping inflation at levels that are not consistent with underlying monetary and price stability", Visco said in a speech at a meeting of the Italian banking lobby ABI.

(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei, writing by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Gavin Jones)