Rate hikes like the 0.5 percentage point (50 basis point) hike made at last week's meeting could become the standard for the European Central Bank (ECB) to fight high inflation, said central bank vice president Luis de Guindos.
Despite forecasts of a winter recession in the euro zone, monetary tightening must continue, he stressed in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde published on the ECB's website on Thursday.
"50 basis point hikes may become the new norm in the foreseeable future," de Guindos said.
"We should expect to be raising rates at this rate for some time." Although the ECB hiked rates at a smaller rate than before at its last meeting, its rhetoric remained dovish.
Economists have upgraded their forecasts for both the pace of tightening and when interest rates will peak in the cycle.
Even more needed in the fight against currency devaluation
Although inflation fell in November for the first time in a year and a half, it is more than five times the target of 2 percent.
"Our interest rates will then go into the restrictive zone," said de Guindos.
"The steps we've taken so far will have an impact on inflation, but we have more to do."
The fastest rise in prices since the euro was launched more than two decades ago could peak this quarter, ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno said on Wednesday, but called further rate hikes "inevitable".
Greece's central bank warned this week that raising borrowing costs would create a "policy dilemma" because of the drag on economic growth.