Middle East conflict pushes up energy costs, ECB expected to raise interest rates again this week

(Central News Agency, Frankfurt, comprehensive foreign news report on the 6th) As the renewed conflict in the Middle East pushes up energy costs and increases the pressure of inflation, the market expects the European Central Bank to raise interest rates again this week.

Agence France-Presse reports that the U.S.-Iran war has erupted in the most intense conflict in weeks in recent days, causing oil prices to soar and dimming hopes that energy shipments will resume normal transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the short term.

The inflation rate of the 21 countries in the Eurozone, which are highly dependent on energy imports, rose to 3.3% in August, a three-year high, well above the 2% target set by the European Central Bank.

As external concerns about spiraling price increases intensify, the European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates for the second time this year at its meeting on the 10th.

"The ECB Governing Council is almost certain to raise the deposit rate from 2.25% to 2.5%," said Andrew Kenningham, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

In order to curb soaring prices, the European Central Bank announced in June that it would raise interest rates for the first time since 2023, but it paused raising interest rates when it last met in July to see how the conflict would develop.