European Central Bank chief economist Lane says rate rises will continue after March

Philip Lane, the chief economist of the European Central Bank, said interest-rate rises will have to continue beyond the March meeting, when a 50 basis point rate hike is seen as almost 100% certain. The yield on the 2-year German bund fell 2 basis points to 3.20%. “The current information on underlying inflation pressures suggests that it will be appropriate to raise rates further beyond our March meeting, while the exact calibration beyond March should reflect the information contained in the upcoming macroeconomic projections, together with the incoming data on inflation and the operation of the monetary transmission mechanism,” said Lane. He outlined the data the ECB will focus on: the inflation data for March and April, first-quarter GDP, a range of sentiment indices and the ECB’s own surveys, updated information on employment and wages, data on credit creation and bank lending and stability program updates from member states.