**[Nomura Securities: June Rate Hike Was Just the Beginning, ECB May Follow Up in September]** BlockBeats News, August 13 — According to foreign media reports, 83% of economists expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise the deposit facility rate by 25 basis points to 2.50% in September; 80% of economists anticipate the deposit facility rate will remain at 2.50% by the end of the year; 63% of economists predict the deposit facility rate will stay at least 2.50% until the third quarter of 2027. Among the 69 surveyed economists, 57 (approximately 83%) expect a rate hike next month, a proportion higher than the 72% before the July meeting and 65% in June. This indicates that following the June rate hike, market consensus on another ECB rate hike in September is strengthening. Nomura Securities stated: "The longer oil prices remain at current levels or rise higher, the greater the risk of second-round effects. The ECB cannot act without seeing these effects, but they can act preemptively — which is exactly what the ECB has been doing. The risk lies in the fact that if the ECB raises rates only once, it would appear as a mere fine-tuning operation, and it is well-known that monetary policy cannot operate in this manner. If they raise rates once, they are likely to raise them again. Considering that the June rate hike was an obvious choice for the ECB, we believe the likelihood of another rate hike is very high." (Jin10)