The European Central Bank is set to continue its interest rate hikes for some time ahead as the minutes of the latest policy session in December revealed that many policymakers had sought a jumbo raise of 75 basis points due to the prospect of inflation staying high for too long, but eventually agreed on a smaller half basis point lift in a bid to have more room for higher rates in the future. Elsewhere, ECB President Christine Lagarde and fellow policymaker Klaas Knot also signaled that interest rates have to rise further as inflation remained uncomfortably elevated, and the former even cautioned markets against pricing in smaller hikes.
"A large number of members initially expressed a preference for increasing the key ECB interest rates by 75 basis points, as inflation was clearly expected to be too high for too long," the minutes, which the ECB calls 'account', of the December 14-15 Governing Council meeting showed Thursday.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.