The Fed has paused. How long will Europe’s central bank keep raising rates in a shaky economy?

DAVID McHUGH

The U.S. Federal Reserve may have hit “pause” on interest rate hikes, but the European Central Bank still has its finger on “fast forward” as inflation plagues consumers with higher costs for everything from groceries to utility bills and summer vacations.

Analysts say an increase of a quarter-percentage point is a foregone conclusion when the ECB’s governing council meets Thursday, a day after the Fed took at least a temporary breather after 10 straight hikes.

The Fed made no change in its key rate Wednesday as it waits to see the impact of sharply higher rates on the U.S. economy.

The question for the European Central Bank is: How much longer will its own rapid series of rate increases last?

One reason for the ECB to keep hiking is that it started later than the Fed and has not raised as far, increasing its benchmark deposit rate by