ECB to raise its key rate by a quarter percentage point

at its next policy meeting in July to minus 0.25%, 

and increase it again in September, possibly by more than 0.25 percentage point. 

It said it would end its large-scale bond-buying program on July 1.

“The increase in core inflation across a number of advanced economies suggests that monetary policy has been too expansionary,” said Stefan Gerlach, former deputy governor of Ireland’s central bank.

Most studies say monetary policy’s impact on the economy takes about two years to play out, which suggests recent increases in inflation could have been triggered by central-bank stimulus early in the pandemic, Mr. Gerlach said.

Unlike the Fed and other central banks, the ECB drives monetary policy for a number of countries, which means it faces the delicate task of tightening monetary policy to battle inflation while trying not to weaken the bloc’s most fragile economies. 

This is why, unlike the Fed, it is expected to hold on to its mammoth portfolio of sovereign debt. The ECB’s balance sheet has almost doubled to about 8.8 trillion euros, equivalent to $9.39 trillion, since the start of the pandemic, swollen by large-scale bond purchases and cheap loans to households and firms.

Until recently, ECB President Christine Lagarde had said the ECB was very unlikely to raise interest rates at all this year

ECB said it would end asset purchases on July 1

WSJ 9 June 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ecb-plans-july-rate-increase-as-inflation-problem-deepens-11654776101