ECB President Christine Lagarde told Dutch television over the weekend, “we are going to follow the path of stopping net asset purchase. Then, sometime after that — which could be a few weeks — hike interest rates.” That’s seen as an indication that a rate hike could happen in July, after stopping asset purchases in June.
Governing Council member Klass Knot floated the idea of a 50bps hike earlier. But Lagarde said, “it’s not something that I can tell you at this point in time.” She emphasized, “we need to make sure that this is going gradually enough so that we don’t put the break on this car that is moving. We have to lift the accelerator for sure to slow inflation but we cannot be breaking any speed.”
