European Central Bank raises interest rates for first time in 11 years

Bank surprises markets with 0.5 percentage point rise as inflation reaches 8.6% in eurozone

The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates for the first time since 2011 to tackle eurozone inflation that increased to 8.6% last month.

In a surprise move, the ECB pushed its base rate up by 0.5 percentage points, after economists had expected a smaller 0.25 point rise.