Interest rates may rise again as early as next week, Niall Dunne, corporate strategist of Ulster Bank, predicted yesterday. Mr Dunne's comments came as several members of the European Central Bank's (ECB) governing council warned that the bank could speed up the pace of interest rate increases.

Since last December, the ECB has implemented three separate quarter point interest rate rises in three monthly intervals. Yesterday, Greek central bank governor Nicholas Garganas questioned market presumptions that this pace would continue, hinting that rates may rise sooner than expected.

"I would not rule out a higher adjustment to rates than 25 basis points, nor quickening the pace of increases from once every quarter," Mr Garganas said yesterday.

Irish Central Bank governor John Hurley added his voice to warnings that an earlier rate move was in prospect. "We will not hesitate to act should new information change our assessment of the risks to price stability," he said yesterday.

Having last raised rates in early June, a continuation of the quarterly approach to rises would imply that rates would next increase on August 31st.

Mr Dunne suggested that, were the ECB to increase the frequency of rate hikes, it would need to move next week. "The bank would be unlikely to hike rates without giving Mr Trichet an opportunity to explain the move to the market through a press conference, which effectively rules out any chance of an August 3rd move," he said. "But the prospect of waiting until August 31st might trouble the hawks on the bank's council."

The ECB has traditionally held a press conference in the wake of interest rates moves at which the ECB president explains the reasoning behind such changes.