“If there is a need for further rate hikes next year, smaller increases will be made,” said Gabriel Makhlouf, a member of the European Central Bank and Governor of the Irish Central Bank.

Gabriel Makhlouf, a member of the European Central Bank and Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, said the ECB would likely turn to smaller rate hikes if further rate hikes are needed next year.

Markets are pricing because the ECB will raise interest rates by 50 or 75 basis points at its December 15 meeting.

Makhlouf said last week that he was open-minded about the size of the rate hike.

“There is a possibility that interest rates will go higher next year, but they will go up with smaller increases,” he told the Sunday Independent newspaper yesterday.

“We need to look at what’s happening in the Eurozone economy to give as much as we need to how many more rate hikes we need,” Makhlouf said.

“I think we will see inflation fall in the second half of next year,” he said.