The European Central Bank raised interest rates to the highest level in more than two decades on Thursday, as policymakers continued their campaign to stamp out inflation they said was forecast to remain too high for too long. The bank, which sets rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, lifted rates by a quarter of a percentage point, putting the deposit rate at 3.5 percent, the highest since 2001. It was the bank’s eighth consecutive increase. The decision comes a day after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for the first time in more than a year. After last month’s mirror image move, when both raised rates a quarter-point, the two central banks have begun to diverge again, in part because the European Central Bank hasn’t been raising interest rates for as long or as high as the Fed.

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Organizations: European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank hasn’t