The European Central Bank on Thursday raised interest rates by 0.25 points in a context of inflation, to 4.5%, thus reaching its highest level in twenty years, since 2001

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday raised interest rates by a quarter point to 4.5%, its highest level since 2001. The institution has decided to increase the price of money for the tenth consecutive month despite the mediocre growth data for the euro zone.

This increase will take effect from September 20, the ECB said Thursday after the meeting of its Governing Council.

The community bank justified it on the grounds that inflation continues to fall, but “is still expected to remain too high for too long”, and its duty is to ensure that it returns “soon” to the 2% medium-term objective.

As a result, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will increase to 4.50%, 4.75% and 4.00%, respectively.