Bloomberg: Economists estimate that the ECB on Thursday will limit the first increase in interest rates

Central banks from the euro zone to Japan are set to reveal whether they can resist the global push for aggressive monetary tightening led by the US Federal Reserve, according to Bloomberg.

Almost all economists expect the European Central Bank on Thursday to limit its first rate hike in more than a decade to just a quarter of a point, hours after the Bank of Japan kept its own dovish stance unchanged.

Such results will highlight some of the world’s last bastions of hesitancy in the face of rising inflation. Monetary officials from South Korea to Canada stepped up tightening last week as investors began betting on a historic one-percentage-point move by the Fed.

Since early June, when ECB policymakers outlined a plan to start hikes only gradually, they have stuck to that line, insisting that inflation, even at four times their target, does not reflect underlying pressures in an economy which touches the borders of a war zone.

Officials in Japan, where consumer price growth is much lower, also face questions about how long ultra-low interest rates can be sustained.

The Japanese government’s strong election victory last week shows that public anxiety about inflation has not yet reached critical levels, but the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe removed one of the most vocal advocates of loose monetary policy within the ruling party.

As global tightening intensified, policies in the euro zone and Japan have prompted investors to sell their currencies, complicating central banks’ tasks as import costs rise.

The euro has fallen so much that last week it touched parity with the dollar for the first time since 2002, while the yen hit new lows dating back to 1998.