The European Central Bank decided in its meeting today, Thursday, February 2, to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, as expected, to reach 3%.

The interest statement issued by the Bank stated that the European Central Bank expects to raise interest rates more in light of the underlying inflationary pressures, as the Council intends to raise interest by another 50 basis points at its next meeting in March, before evaluating the subsequent course of its monetary policy.

Today, the Board decided ways to reduce the Eurosystem’s holdings of securities under the APP asset purchase program, as was announced in December, as the APP asset purchase program portfolio will decrease by 15 billion euros per month until the end of this year.

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 1.0975, down about 30 points against the US dollar.