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ECB's Kazaks: Inflation is unacceptably high and a gradual approach to monetary tightening doesn't mean slow

Latvian central bank head and European Central Bank governing council member Martins Kazaks on Friday said that inflation in the Eurozone is unacceptably high and that when the ECB talks about being gradual with policy tightening, it does not mean slow, reported Reuters. The ECB will do what it can to return inflation to 2.0%, he continued. 

His remarks come after the ECB formally announced plans to end its QE program at the start of July and then hike interest rates by 25 bps at the July meeting. The bank also signaled that if inflation fails to sufficiently abate in the months ahead, a larger than 25 bps rate hike is on the table for September (i.e. a 50 bps hike). 

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Joel Frank

Joel Frank

Independent Analyst

Joel Frank is an economics graduate from the University of Birmingham and has worked as a full-time financial market analyst since 2018, specialising in the coverage of how developments in the global economy impact financial asset

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