Europeans Go Online to Stop ECB Rate Hike
An online petition urging the European Central Bank not to raise interest rates in July has collected almost 1,500 signatures.
The petition at www.stoptrichet.com, conceived by French economist Marc Touati, argues that given the current economic situation, rate hikes will only aggravate inflation in the euro zone and harm fragile economic growth.
“If the ECB’s (refinancing) rate increases the euro will rise again, the dollar will fall, therefore oil prices will rise,” the petition said.
“In other words, in wanting to fight against inflation by increasing interest rates the ECB would actually increase the latter,” it said.
