ECB member: Central Bank likely to raise interest rates in 2023, ‎if needed

An Irish newspaper quoted a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, Gabriel Makhlouf, as saying today, Sunday, that the bank is likely to raise interest rates at smaller rates next year if a need for more increases appears.

According to “Reuters”, the European Central Bank began raising interest rates at the fastest pace ever in July, and markets expect an increase of between 50 and 75 basis points at the bank’s meeting on December 15th. Makhlouf said recently that he is open to hearing different opinions about the size of the increase.

Although policymakers were sticking to more hikes to help reduce inflation, the minutes of their latest meeting, published on Thursday, showed that they were not entirely in agreement on the final direction or pace of lift.

“When we start next year, it is likely that if interest rates rise, they will rise by a smaller amount,” Makhlouf, the governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, said in an interview with the Irish newspaper The Sunday Independent.

“Then we will have to watch what happens to the eurozone economy, so that we can judge how much we need and the pace required for that… I think by the second half of next year we will see (inflation) less.”