European Highlights

摘要

In response to the euro-zone consumer price index reaching an annualised 3.8 percent - the highest rate since the euro was launched - the European Central Bank (ECB) added 0.25 percent to its interest rate. In fact all evidence suggests that the excessive rise was due to increases in the cost of imported commodities rather than internally generated inflationary pressures. Failing consumer spending and the rising international value of the euro (itself boosted by advance signals of the interest rate rise) are already deflating the zone's economies. Perhaps for this reason the ECB has signalled that it will not raise the interest rate again in the near future.