Policymaker: ECB could issue rate hikes sooner than expected

Robert Holzmann

The European Central Bank may begin raising interest rates as early as the summer, despite no plans to end its bond buying programme, according to ECB policymaker Robert Holzmann in an interview with Swiss newspaper NZZ.

While the ECB has been seen as the most dovish of the central banks, it adopted a ‘hawkish tone' in its meeting earlier this month, leading analysts to believe that a rate hike was likely to come earlier than December 2022, as has been previously predicted. With inflation set to peak at 4.8% in the first quarter of this year, the ECB has quickly veered away from a pledge to not issue a rate hike this year and several policymakers have begun pushing for ending the ECB's bond buying programme this year, which was previously stated as a prerequisite for any hike. However, Holzmann said i...