Christine Lagarde declares ECB will continue to raise interest rates in July

Bid to tackle inflation

The European Central Bank is willing to continue its hawkish quantitative tightening policy of raising interest rates next month, president of the ECB Christine Lagarde has said.

Speaking at the ECB Forum on Central Banking 2023 in Portugal today (27 June), the ECB president said: "Barring a material change to the outlook, we will continue to increase rates in July." Euro area annual inflation was 6.1% in May 2023, down from 7% in April, with the ECB targeting a 2% level, along with other major central banks.  Andrew Bailey: 'We are not desiring a recession but we will do what is necessary to bring inflation down' The ECB has increased interest rates by four percentage points since last July in a bid to lower inflation, and the continent has "not yet seen t...