ECB Hikes Interest Rates Amid Iran War-Driven Inflation

The European Central Bank (ECB) is poised to raise interest rates for the second time since the Iran war drove up energy prices, citing inflation that has exceeded target and a robust economy.

According to a Bloomberg poll, all but one analyst expect the ECB to increase the deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5% on Thursday.

This move comes despite some uncertainty about the outlook and divisions within the Governing Council over what will follow.

Jari Stehn, chief European economist at Goldman Sachs, said 'The ECB will obviously hike this week,' but added that there's huge uncertainty about the outlook.