“There will be other rate hikes, the entity will depend on macro data, we will decide meeting by meeting”. Thus the ECB number one Christine Lagarde, in the press conference following the decision of the Governing Council of the ECB to raise the three reference interest rates of the euro area by 75 basis points. Lagarde specified that “zero is not the neutral rate” and that “where we are today (after the 75-point squeeze) is not a neutral rate”.
The Governing Council of the ECB today decided to raise the three key ECB interest rates by 75 basis points. Interest rates on main refinancing operations, marginal lending facility and central bank deposits will be raised to 1.25%, 1.50% and 0.75% respectively, with effect from 14 September 2022. The statement with which the ECB announced the monetary tightening states that “in perspective, the ECB experts have significantly revised upwards the projections on inflation, which would therefore reach an average of 8.1% in 2022, to 5.5% in 2023 and to 2.3% in 2024 “.