2023-06-28 09:08:03
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday criticized the European Central Bank for repeatedly raising interest rates, saying it was pursuing an approach to rate hikes that could do more harm than good.
The European Central Bank raised interest rates to a 22-year high this month and said a ninth consecutive rate hike was certain in July as it expected inflation to remain above its 2 percent target until the end of 2025.
“It is right to decisively fight inflation, but for many people the simplistic prescription of interest rate hikes by the ECB does not seem the right course of action,” Meloni told Parliament.
On the other hand, the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, still believes that inflation rates are high, and that the course of dealing with these levels continues for a period of time that cannot be determined.
In the opening speech of the European Central Bank’s annual policy conference, which was delivered yesterday, Lagarde said that “it is unlikely that the central bank will be able in the near future to announce with full confidence that interest rates have reached their peak,” adding, “Barring a fundamental change in expectations, we will continue to increase interest rates.” in July.”
The President of the European Central Bank also warned that inflation is tightening its grip on the economy, stressing that the bank intends to raise interest rates enough to “break this insistence.”
But Lagarde acknowledged that inflation had fallen from an all-time high last year, as energy prices fell and the bank implemented a rapid series of interest rate increases, aimed at curbing rising prices by making it more expensive for consumers and businesses to borrow and spend.
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