European Central Bank hikes benchmark interest rate for first time since 2011

The European Central Bank raised interest rates Thursday for the first time in 11 years, joining steps already taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks but raising new questions about whether the rush to make credit more expensive will plunge major economies into recession at the price of fighting inflation.

"The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will be increased to 0.50 per cent, 0.75 per cent and 0.00 per cent respectively, with effect from 27 July 2022," the bank said, referring to various rates the central bank charges banks for loans, and fees for keeping deposits at the central bank for short time period.

Previously, some of those rates were negative — a penalty aimed at pushing the banks to lend the money instead.

The bank's surprise hike of half a percentage point for the 19 countries using the euro currency is expected to be followed by another increase in September, possibly by another half a point.

The bank says the larger-than-expected hike was justified by an "updated assessment of inflation risks."

The ECB is coming late to the party in its rate liftoff — a token of inflation that turned out to be higher and more stubborn than first expected and of the shakier state of an economy heavily exposed to the war in Ukraine and a dependence on Russian oil and natural gas. Recession predictions have increased for later this year and next year as soaring bills for electricity, fuel and gas deal a blow to businesses and people's spending power.

"The economic outlook is worsening by the day," said Carsten Brzeski, chief eurozone economist at ING bank. "At the same time, headline inflation is still increasing and in our view will only come down gradually toward the end of the year, if it comes down at all. In hindsight, the very gradual and cautious normalization process the ECB started at the end of last year has simply been too slow and too late."

Recession concerns have helped push the euro to a 20-year low against the U.S. dollar, which adds to the ECB's inflation fighting task by worsening already high energy prices. That is because oil is priced in dollars.

Raising rates is seen as the standard cure for excessive inflation, now running at 8.6 per cent in the eurozone in June and largely driven by soaring energy prices. The bank's benchmarks affect how much it costs banks to borrow — and so help determine what they charge to lend.

But by making credit harder to get, rate increases can slow economic growth, a major conundrum for the ECB as well as for the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed raised rates by an outsized three-quarters of a point in June and could do so again at its next meeting. The Bank of England started the march higher in December, and even Switzerland's central bank surprised with its first increase in nearly 15 years last month.

The goal for all central banks is to get inflation back down to acceptable levels — for the ECB, it's two per cent annually — without tipping the economy into recession. It's difficult to get right as central banks reverse what has been a decade of very low rates and inflation. The ECB increase is the first since 2011.

Yet the European economy has the added worry of a potential cutoff of Russian natural gas that is used to generate electricity, heat homes and fuel energy-intensive industries such as steel, glassmaking and agriculture. Even without a total cutoff, Russia has steadily dialled back gas flows, leading EU leaders to accuse the Kremlin of using gas to pressure countries over sanctions and support for Ukraine.

Those recession worries lead analysts to think that the path of ECB rate increases may have an upper limit after expected hikes in September and through the end of the year.

Rising interest rates follow the end of the bank's 1.7 trillion euro ($1.7 trillion US) stimulus program that helped keep longer-term borrowing costs low for government and companies as they weathered the pandemic recession.