FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 0.5% on Thursday and explicitly signalled at least one more hike of the same magnitude next month, reaffirming it would stay the course in the fight against high inflation
A further half-point increase in interest rates has been made by the European Central Bank for the Eurozone.
The Bank of England had previously increased its interest rate from 3.5% to 4%. Already, it had reached its greatest point in 14 years.
Additionally, the ECB declared that rates would be increased by an additional 0.5% in March.
To combat inflation, which reached 8.5% in the 20 countries that use the euro in January, the ECB started raising rates in July.
The bank promised to: “Stay the course in gradually raising interest rates to levels that are sufficiently restrictive to ensure a timely return of inflation to its 2% medium-term target.”
“Maintaining interest rates at restrained levels will gradually reduce inflation by damping demand and will also help to mitigate the possibility of a prolonged upward change in inflation expectations,” the authors write.
The current range of ECB interest rates, which ranges from 2.5% to 3.25%, is the highest since November 2008.
