Euro zone interest rate rise certain for July

The European Central Bank has signalled it will raise interest rates again next week as the latest data showed inflation in June stabilised but was still much higher than the bank would like to see.

The EU’s statistics office says consumer prices were 2.7 percent higher in June than a year earlier, the same as in May:

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet told the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels: “We see the monetary stance still as accommodative and risks to price stability on the upside.We are strongly determined to secure inflation expectations firmly in line with our aim to keeping inflation rates below but close to two percent over the medium term.”

But economists said Greece’s problems and their potential impact on the euro zone could still make the European Central Bank delay its next interest rate rise.

That is expect to come some time later this year.

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