"We need to continue to increase rates at our meeting next week – by taking a similar step to our December decisions," European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said on Wednesday. per Reuters. Makhlouf further added that they need to increase rates again at the March meeting.

"Our future policy decisions need to continue to be data-dependent given the prevailing uncertainty," Makhlouf explained and reiterated that interest rates will have to rise significantly at a steady pace to reach levels sufficiently restrictive.

Market reaction

EUR/USD pair showed no immediate reaction to these comments and was last seen trading modestly lower on the day at 1.0875.