It was questionable beforehand how far the ECB would follow its US counterpart. According to BNR internal economist Han de Jong, there were “hawks and pigeons inside the central bank”. ‘On the one hand there are the ‘hawks’ who want to fight inflation vigorously and raise interest rates by half a percentage point. And on the other hand, the “pigeons”, he told BNR earlier. “The pigeons will argue that an interest rate hike has a lagged effect and that it’s time to take it easy.”
The US Federal Reserve also raised interest rates yesterday, bringing the total interest rate in the US to between 5 and 5.25 percent. According to De Jong, there is a good chance that this will also be the latest interest rate hike for the time being.