The European Central Bank (ECB) is set to raise the key rate by 0.50 percentage points in February and March and will continue to raise interest rates in the coming months, Claas Noth, a member of the ECB’s board, told Dutch radio station WNL in an interview on Sunday, Reuters reported.

“Expect us to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points in February and March, and don’t stop there, there will be additional steps in May and June,” Noth said.

In a separate interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa published on Sunday, Noth said it was “too early to say” whether the ECB would be able to slow the pace of interest rate hikes before the summer.

“At some point, of course, the risks associated with inflation prospects will become more balanced. This would also be a time when we could take an additional step, for example from 0.50 to 0.25 percentage point. But we are still far from that, he said.

(source: news.ro)