FRANKFURT, Sep 5(ABC): After raising interest rates for the first time in over a decade at their last meeting, European Central Bank policymakers are poised to deliver another bumper hike on Thursday in a show of determination to tame soaring inflation.
Steep increases in the price of energy in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have heaped pressure on households and sent the pace of consumer price rises to new highs.
Eurozone inflation hit 9.1 percent in August, a record in the history of the single currency and well above the two-percent rate targeted by the ECB.
The “only question” for the ECB’s meeting was “whether it will be a 50 or 75 basis point hike,” said Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at the ING bank.