ECB’s Vasle: Future Rate Hike Size Will Depend on Medium-Term Inflation Outlook

9 September 2022

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Boštjan Vasle on Friday said that the size of future ECB rate hikes would depend on medium-term inflation prospects.

In a statement issued in his name by the Bank of Slovenia, which he heads, Vasle said that the euro area economy would ‘slow down significantly’ after the first half of 2022, while inflation would ‘decrease gradually’ next year.

‘In light of strong pressures along the price chain, inflationary pressures continue to spread, with core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, strengthening to 4.3% in August’, he said.

Following Thursday’s 75bp rate hike, ‘we expect further increases in interest rates in the future as well, whereby the size of the increases will depend on the medium-term inflation outlook’, he said.

This will ensure that inflationary pressure does not persist beyond the medium term, he said.