ECB's Stournaras says rates to rise until certainty inflation moving to 2%

ATHENS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will continue raising interest rates until there is certainty that inflation is de-escalating towards the 2% target over the medium term, Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras said on Thursday.

Inflation hit double digits late last year but has now appeared to peak and the ECB's focus is slowly shifting from stopping its rise to just how quickly it can get it back down to its 2% target.

A European Central Bank's survey showed on Thursday that euro zone consumer expectations for inflation finally declined in November.

"(ECB) rates are expected to increase further until the recent positive sign of the de-escalation of inflationary pressures turn into a certainty of approaching the 2% target over the medium term," ECB Governing Council member Stournaras said in a letter, addressed to Greek central bank workers.

Stournaras said that the fact that there was no price-wage spiral away from the 2% target for now was positive.

"This gives us the courage to continue the anti-inflationary policy without interest rate hikes that would cause a deep recession", he said.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Conor Humphries)