ECB’s Knot says he favors large rate hikes -NOS interview
2:48 pm Friday, August 26th, 2022
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Klaas Knot, a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, said in an interview with Dutch national broadcaster NOS on Friday that he favours large interest rate hikes to tame inflation.
Knot, who is also the Netherlands’ Central Bank president, was speaking from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the U.S. Federal Reserve is holding its annual conference.
“Europe’s inflation problem is so large at this moment that I think it’s our duty to raise rates every six weeks until the moment that inflation stabilizes,” Knot told the broadcaster.
Knot has been one of the more hawkish members of the ECB’s board, with Dutch inflation above 10% and unemployment at 3.3%.
The ECB raised rates to 0% in July with a 0.5% hike, its first hike since 2011.
Knot told the broadcaster that he favoured another hike of at least 0.5% and possibly 0.75% at the ECB’s Sept. 8 meeting in Frankfurt.
Reuters reported earlier on Friday that some European Central Bank policymakers want to discuss a 75 basis point rate hike at the September policy meeting, even if it increases recession risks.
(Reporting by Toby SterlingEditing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
