ECB likely to keep rates high until second half of next year
The ECB is predicted to sanction rate increases at both July and September meetings and keep its deposit rate around 4% until the second half of next year.
A quarter-point rate hike is all-but a done deal when the European Central Bank meets next Thursday, but the central bank will be slow to start cutting rates, a leading consultancy has predicted.
The assessment from Capital Economics comes after some economists monitoring the latest remarks of ECB decision-makers said that July's rate rise could be its last since it started hiking rates last summer, and that the central bank will forego a further quarter-point increase when it returns from its holiday break for its September gathering.
