On Thursday, the 2nd of February, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to increase the base interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3%. This and other interest rates are increased by ECB at the fifth consecutive meeting.
During a meeting of the bank’s council in Frankfurt it was decided to raise the overnight deposit option rate to 2.5% and overnight lending rate to 3.25%. Both these rates were increased by 0.5 percentage points.
New rates will come into force on the 8th of February.
The prices of shares on US and European exchanges mostly grew on Thursday, the 2nd of February, after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England raised interest rates to battle inflation.
The announcement published after the meeting stresses the council plans to maintain the course that involves significant raising of interest rates at a stable rate, preserving it on a level that is sufficiently limiting to ensure the inflation is at an average 2% index.
Also, considering pressure from base inflation, the council expects the base interest rate will be increased by another 50 base points at the next meeting in March.
Indexes increased at London, Frankfurt and Paris exchanges after ECB and the Bank of England announced the decision to raise the interest rate by 0.5 percentage points. Frankfurt exchange index DAX 30 increased by 2.2% to 15 509.19 points, reaching the highest point in the past 11 months. London exchange FTSE 100 index increased by 0.8% to 7 820.16 points. Paris exchange CAC 40 index increased by 1.3% to 7 166.27 points.
Brent crude oil price at the London exchange went down by 0.8% to 82.17 USD/barrel. On Thursday, the 2nd of February, the price of natural gas at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) went down by 4.18% – to 57.04 EUR/MWh.
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