These 3 points will be important at Thursday’s meeting

Frankfurt When the European Central Bank (ECB) last raised interest rates more than eleven years ago, its president was still Jean-Claude Trichet. That move didn’t last long. Only a few months later, his successor Mario Draghi reversed this measure.

Since then, key interest rates in the euro area have continued to fall. The ECB will most likely end this trend at its meeting on Thursday.

However, the starting position for the central bank is more difficult than it has been for a long time. Inflation in the euro zone in June was at a historic high of 8.6 percent. That shouldn’t be the end: “We expect headline inflation to peak at over 10 percent in September,” says Roxane Spitznagel, economist at US fund manager Vanguard.

At the same time, however, there is a risk of a recession in the currency area, i.e. a shrinking economy. This danger arises especially when Russia suspends its gas supplies to Germany, Italy and other countries.