ATHENS The ECB's monetary tightening cycle will end this year if there are no dramatic changes, Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras told a news website in an interview published on Wednesday.

Stournaras, considered a dove on the ECB's 26-member Governing Council, told imerisia.gr that "as things stand at the moment, and if nothing changes dramatically, we can say that rate hikes will end in 2023."

"Rates will remain where they are today or higher for some time until inflation comes very close to the 2% target," he added.

Greece, the euro zone's most indebted nation, is heading to elections on May 21 and the ballot is not expected to produce an outright winner which may lead to a second vote, according to recent polls.

Stournaras said that Greece was close to regaining an investment grade rating, which would signal that the country has returned to normality.

He said that the new government which will take over after the elections should implement the appropriate fiscal policy.

"From a fiscal point of view, we 're still away from a primary (budget) surplus, which is necessary for the long-term debt viability," he said.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Bernadette Baum)