european central bank board member isabel schnabel attends a dinner program at grand teton national park where financial leaders from around the world are gathering for the jackson hole economic symposium outside jackson wyoming us august 25 2022 reutersjim urquhartfile photo frankfurt sept 22 reuters  the euro zone is facing an economic downturn but inflation is still far too high so interest rates need to keep going up european central bank board member isabel schnabel said a looming downturn would have a dampening effect on inflation schnabel told german news website tonline in an interview however the starting point of interest rates is very low so it is clear that we need to continue raising rates while schnabel did not yet consider a recession the base case for the euro zone she warned that it may be unavoidable in germany the 19 country blocs biggest economy market expectations are split between a 50 and a 75basispoint rate hike in october schnabel did not hint which way she was leaning but merely said the ecb would do whatever is needed to get inflation under control