Inflation continues to decline but is still expected to remain too high for too long. The Governing Council is determined to ensure that inflation returns to its 2% medium-term target in a timely manner. In order to reinforce progress towards its target, the Governing Council today decided to raise the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. The rate increase today reflects the Governing Council’s assessment of the inflation outlook in light of the incoming economic and financial data, the dynamics of underlying inflation, and the strength of monetary policy transmission. The September ECB staff ... (full story)

Borrowers are being hit with a 10th interest rate rise by the European Central Bank in a move that is set to suck billions of euro out of household budgets. It had been hoped that after nine hikes in lending rates, the ECB would decide to pause hiking rates again this month. But fears that inflation is proving persistent have prompted the governing council of the Frankfurt-based central bank to push up rates by 0.25 percentage points again in the hope of bringing down the rate of inflation. The key re-financing rate, which trackers are priced off, is now 4.5pc. Higher interest rates have wreaked havoc with existing ... (full story)