In the euro area, inflation stood at 2.7 per cent in March, which is considerably above the medium-term target of just below 2 per cent. In the assessment of the European Central Bank, inflationary risks in the euro area are on the upside.
Against this background, the ECB raised its lending rate by 0.25 percentage point at the beginning of this month, after having kept it constant at a very low level for almost two years. Danmarks Nationalbank followed suit. The debt crisis in the EU is still evolving.