Latvian central bank head and European Central Bank governing council member Martins Kazaks on Friday said that inflation in the Eurozone is unacceptably high and that when the ECB talks about being gradual with policy tightening, it does not mean slow, reported Reuters. The ECB will do what it can to return inflation to 2.0%, he continued.
His remarks come after the ECB formally announced plans to end its QE program at the start of July and then hike interest rates by 25 bps at the July meeting. The bank also signaled that if inflation fails to sufficiently abate in the months ahead, a larger than 25 bps rate hike is on the table for September (i.e. a 50 bps hike).