ECB Chief Economist: Inflation has almost peaked

In an interview with the Italian business newspaper Milano Finanza published on the central bank’s website on Tuesday, Lane said he was “reasonably confident” that inflation was near its peak. However, it is still uncertain whether inflation has already peaked or will not reach it until early 2023.

In November, the inflation rate was in the euro zone fell to 10.0 percent after hitting a record high since the introduction of the euro of just over 10 percent in October. Most recently, the ECB had fought against high inflation with sharp interest rate hikes of 0.75 percentage points.

“We assume that further rate hikes will be necessary, but a lot has already been done,” Lane said. According to the chief economist, the extent of “what we have already done” should be taken into account when further interest rate steps are taken.

The market is currently discussing the extent of the rate hike speculated at the upcoming interest rate meeting in mid-December. It is currently not clear whether the ECB intends to raise interest rates again by 0.75 percentage points or by 0.50 points.

/jkr/jha/

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX)

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