By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller said on Tuesday that the likelihood of the ECB’s next policy move being a rate hike has increased over the past couple of weeks amid the conflict in the Middle East.

In the Q&A session at the Baltic Economic Resilience panel organized by the Bank of Lithuania, Müller, who heads Eesti Pank, said that the ECB “should not rush into any decisions,” pointing to the current high level of uncertainty and market volatility.

The central bank should first assess whether the recent rise in energy prices will prove “transitory” or not, he said, noting that the surge in 2022 ultimately did not turn out to be temporary, he said.

“It’s perhaps fair to say at this point that even if we shouldn't rush into decisions, the probability of the next change in the policy rates now being more towards an increase rather than the opposite has probably gone up in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

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