The European Central Bank decided in its meeting today, Thursday, March 16, to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, as expected, to reach 3.5%.

And the interest statement issued by the bank stated that the European Central Bank expects that inflation rates will continue to be high for a long time, and that the bank is determined to return inflation in a timely manner to the bank’s target of 2%.

The euro is flexible. And the European Central Bank deleted from its statement that it will raise interest rates in the coming period more, as it was in the previous meeting.

The basic expectations for growth in the current year were suspended to an average of 1% as a result of the decline in energy prices, and it is expected to rise to 1.6% next year, while the members of the Bank believe that inflation may reach 5.3% in the current year and 2.9% in the next year.

The APP asset purchase program portfolio, as announced in December, will decrease by 15 billion euros per month until the end of June this year, and the subsequent pace will be determined with the passage of time.

After less than half an hour, the markets are waiting for the bank’s president Christine Lagarde’s press conference to answer journalists’ questions.

The euro is trading at 1.0580 levels, retreating by about 30 pips against the US dollar, after the bank deleted the statement that it will continue to raise interest rates more strongly.