The European Central Bank is set to raise interest rates for the fourth time in a row on Thursday, although by less than at its last two meetings, and lay out plans to drain cash from the financial system as it fights runaway inflation.
The ECB has been raising rates at an unprecedented pace to rein in prices that have soared since economies reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by supply bottlenecks and then surging energy costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The central bank for the 19-country euro zone raised the interest it pays on bank deposits from -0.5% to 1.5% in just three months, reversing a decade of ultra-easy policy after being wrong-footed by the sudden rise in prices.
But Thursday's policy meeting is likely to see this brisk pace of tightening slow as inflation shows signs of peaking and a recession looms.
A Reuters poll of economists expected the ECB to raise interest rates by half a percentage point after 75-basis-point hikes at each of its two previous meetings, mirroring the U.S. Federal Reserve's change of pace on Wednesday.
Reuters
More about:
