BERLIN German Chancellor Olaf Scholz backed the European Central Bank's vigilant stance on inflation, saying that tackling price increases was among the central bank's most important tasks.

"Fighting inflation is one of the central bank's most important tasks for our common currency," Scholz said at a joint press conference in Berlin with the Greek Prime Minister, responding to a question on the inflationary burden weighing on both countries.

The ECB is due to decide on Thursday whether to hike rates for a tenth consecutive time in response to an internal projection that expects euro zone inflation to stay above 3% next year.

"Inflation challenges our citizens and our companies, so that that is a good decision by the ECB," he said.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Madeline Chambers)