The Governing Council will continue to raise interest rates substantially at a steady pace and to keep them at levels sufficiently restrictive to ensure that inflation returns to its medium-term target of 2% as soon as possible.
ECB interest rates are now in a range between 2.5% and 3.25%, the highest since November 2008.
The Council therefore decided on Thursday to increase the three key ECB interest rates by 50 basis points and plans to continue raising them.
Given underlying inflationary pressures, the Governing Council intends to raise interest rates a further 50 basis points at the next monetary policy meeting in March and will then assess the future course of its monetary policy.
Read alsoThe markets play lying poker with the ECB
Going forward, keeping interest rates at restrictive levels will reduce inflation by dampening demand and avoiding the risk of a persistent upward slide in inflation expectations.
In any case, future decisions by the Governing Council on policy rates will remain data-driven and will continue to be taken on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
