"אין ברירה" אלא להעלות את הריבית

Questioned by the French newspaper Le Monde about the pressure of many governments to slow down interest rate increases, the Spaniard replied that the monetary tightening of the ECB is the “best way” to help them.

“Currently, it is the main problem for many European countries. It is true that raising interest rates means increasing borrowing costs for governments. But we have a mandate and we have to stick to it: inflation is now at 10% and core inflation at 5%, while our target is 2%,” he said.

In this scenario, de Guindos says there is no other option. “We have no choice and I think not having the possibility to deviate from the target is good. Because if we don't control inflation, if we don't put inflation on a path of convergence towards 2%, it will be impossible for the economy to recover,” he argued.

At the last meeting, the ECB raised key rates by 50 basis points, after rising 75 points at previous meetings. De Guindos believes they will become the new norm. “We should expect interest rates to rise at this pace for a period of time,” he said.