Europe’s central bank worried about inflation but holds off

By DAVID McHUGH
AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank says record inflation could linger for “longer than expected” and appeared to open the door at least a crack for an interest rate increase this year. Asked twice by journalists Thursday, Christine Lagarde declined to repeat previous comments that a rate increase was “very unlikely” this year. She said officials would pay careful attention to the numbers and revisit their inflation stance next month. At the same time, she said the bank would stick with its road map for withdrawing economic stimulus, which leaves little room for a rate hike this year.