According to a Reuters report, some unnamed ECB sources said ECB policymakers were keen to end the asset purchases in June, and start raising interest rate soon. Some expected interest hike to start as soon as in July. The main policy rate could be back to neutral at around 1.00-1.25% by the end of the year. That would also lift the deposit rate back into positive territory for the first time since 2014.
ECB President Christine Lagarde sounded more cautious with her comments, however. She just said last Friday, “If the situation continues as predicated at the moment, there is a strong likelihood that rates will be hiked before the end of the year. How much, now many times, remains to be seen and will be data dependent.”
