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ECB KAZAKS IN FAVOR OF 2-3 HIKES IN 2022 Martins Kazaks, Latvia’s central bank governor has expressed that a view to hike 2 to 3 times this year is “quite a reasonable view to take”. He added, “a rate rise in July is possible” but qualified his statement saying that its immaterial whether the first hike is in July or September but prefers July. Kazaks is considered to be one of the slightly hawkish governing council members of the ECB and joins calls by other members to promptly end asset purchases and begin hiking rates in a bid to calm inflation. Growth Concerns Confirmed by the IMF The ECB’s ‘gradual’ approach to phasing out its Asset Purchase Programme (APP) coupled with what is likely to be a 50 basis point hike from the Fed next week, places the euro in a tough spot. Not only that, the IMF revised its 2022 euro zone growth projections lower, from 3.9% to 2.8% with Germany accounting for a large share of the weaker outlook. Germany is the EU’s largest economy which is seen dropping 1.7% in expected, GDP growth in 2022. In contrast, the US is only expected to drop 0.3% from the January GDP growth forecasts, coming in at 3.7% for the year. All figures refer to real GDP (expected nominal GDP – expected inflation)