ECB: minute, keep course, rate hikes at a constant pace

(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 02 - The Governing Council should stay on course by significantly increasing interest rates at a constant pace and keeping them at levels restrictive enough to ensure a timely return of inflation to the medium-term objective of 2%.

The ECB affirmed this in the minutes of the last monetary policy meeting, reiterating "its intention to raise interest rates by another 50 basis points at the next meeting" in March.

The March meeting "is a point of reference for assessing the subsequent monetary policy path, also on the basis of a new series of macroeconomic projections".

   (HANDLE).