The European Central Bank’s chief economist has said quarter-percentage point interest rate rises in July and September will be its “benchmark pace”, rebuffing calls for a bigger increase to end its negative rate policy instantly this summer.

Economists said the ECB was likely to face rising pressure to ditch its ultra-loose monetary policy more quickly after inflation in Germany soared to a record high of 8.7 per cent in May. But its chief economist Philip Lane said the process of removing its stimulus “should be gradual”.

“Normalisation [of monetary policy] has a natural focus on moving in units of 25 basis points, so increases of 25 basis points in the July and September meetings are a benchmark pace,” he told Spanish business newspaper Cinco Días.