“For a quick succession of further key interest rate hikes, it would have to be shown that the energy price shock is actually spreading to wages and other prices.”

Statement on the ECB’s interest rate hike by Prof. Dr. Steffen Sebastian, Chair of Real Estate Finance, IREBS Institute for Real Estate Economics, University of Regensburg

“The ECB’s interest rate hike of 0.25 percentage points was considered almost certain. This is because inflation in the euro area rose to 3.3 percent in August, far above the ECB’s target. The current surge in inflation is strongly influenced by energy prices and thus by a supply shock. However, the ECB cannot do anything about the high energy prices themselves. For a quick succession of further key interest rate hikes, it would have to be shown that the energy price shock is actually spreading to wages and other prices. However, there are no clear indications of this so far.”