Further rises for Europe

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said there’s “still a way to go” on raising interest rates to counter record inflation.

Price growth in the euro zone, which hit 10.7 per cent last month, is “way too high”, Lagarde said on Thursday evening in an interview with Latvian television. She said the ECB will use all of its instruments to return it to the 2 per cent target.

“Inflation everywhere is way too high,” Lagarde said. “So there is no question in my mind that we just have to fight that inflation.”

Lagarde said earlier in the day that while a “mild recession” is possible, that wouldn’t be sufficient to tame inflation.

Lagarde said the ECB’s pricestability mandate and meeting its inflation target remain the priorities.

“We will do whatever is needed in order to reach this target,” she said. “The opposite would be a lot worse, let’s face it.”