AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s interest rate hikes are starting to have an effect, but more will be needed to contain inflation, Dutch Central Bank President Klaas Knot said on Sunday.
Knot, who is also on the ECB’s governing council and is known as a hawk, said he had agreed with the ECB decision on Thursday to slow the speed of rate hikes to 25 basis points, or 0.25%
But, speaking on Dutch television, he said he still could support the lifting of rates to 5% from the current 3.25%, or even higher – if inflation proves more persistent than he expects.
“Our policy works with a certain delay, so the biggest effects of what we have done so far are still in the pipeline,” Knot said in interview on the programme Buitenhof.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Barbara Lewis)
