FRANKFURT, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Interest rate hikes are becoming increasingly likely if inflation expectations remain elevated, the German central bank chief has said.

This photo taken on April 17, 2025 shows flags of the European Union in front of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo: Xinhua)

The European Central Bank (ECB) will be more likely to raise interest rates if the inflation expectations do not change fundamentally, Joachim Nagel, president of the Deutsche Bundesbank and also an ECB Governing Council member, told the German newspaper Handelsblatt in an interview published on Wednesday.

Nagel warned that price hikes which are pronounced for energy products will spill over to all other categories of goods. Things are already painful right now and more may lie in store on the inflation front, he said.

According to Nagel, inflation will probably average 2.7 percent in Germany for 2026 and there may be months when inflation rates top three percent again.

The ECB Governing Council members discussed in depth and at length the option of rate hikes at its April rate-setting meeting but eventually unanimously decided to leave the rates unchanged.

Nagel echoed ECB President Christine Lagarde and disclosed that "we are already no longer in the Eurosystem staff projection's baseline scenario."

Nagel insisted that the ECB is taking its inflation target seriously and determined to live up to its mandate. "No one enjoys raising interest rates when growth is under severe strain. But our mandate is to keep price stable," he said.