frankfurt feb 2 reuters  european central bank policymakers left thursdays meeting expecting at least two more rate hikes although differences remained about their pace and final destination two members of the ecbs ratesetting governing council told reuters the ecb raised its main interest rate by 05 to 25 on thursday and explicitly signalled at least one more hike of the same magnitude next month reaffirming that it would stay the course in the fight against high inflation two policymakers who talked to reuters after the meeting said it was clear that rates would then be increased again at the ecbs following meeting in may although the governing council had not discussed the size of that raise on thursday based on current data they said some policymakers were anticipating a possibly final 25basispoint increase at the ecbs may 4 meeting while others felt the streak of 50basispoint hikes should continue taking the deposit rate to 35 that was seen a possible terminal rate by some policymakers while others envisaged rate increases continuing through the summer to even higher levels the sources said thursdays decision was easily reached with only a small minority of policymakers feeling it was too early to commit to a march rate hike worth 50 basis points at a news conference after thursdays decision ecb president christine lagarde said the central bank had ground to cover in raising rates and that disinflation hadnt started yet in the euro zone reporting by francesco canepa and balazs koranyi editing by catherine evans