European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said the ECB will likely need to raise interest rates next month because the inflation outlook has worsened.
Speaking in Berlin, the Bundesbank president said even the consumer price projections published in September were based on further rate increases, and the inflation situation has deteriorated since then.
He said repeated surges in energy costs have increased the risk that inflation spills over into other prices.
Officials may have a clearer picture when they next meet in December, when they will receive new economic forecasts extending through 2029.
"We will make our decision based on those projections," Nagel said. "But as things stand, unless the inflation outlook improves significantly, a rate hike may be hard to avoid."
Economists expect the ECB to deliver a final rate increase next month, though investors expect the tightening cycle to continue into 2027.
Nagel said one reason for last week's rate pause was that there are currently few signs of second-round effects.
But he added that higher energy prices "may increasingly feed into wage demands, which in turn would push prices higher."
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