Europe’s central bank joins global push for higher rates

By DAVID McHUGH
AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has raised interest rates for the first time in 11 years, joining the global march to combat soaring inflation with an unexpectedly large hike of half a percentage point. The decision at a meeting of the bank’s 25-member governing council Thursday comes as it faces a tricky path forward: whether the rush to make credit more expensive will tip Europe into recession at the price of fighting record inflation. The bank says the larger-than-expected hike was justified by an “updated assessment of inflation risks.”