ECB President Lagarde promises further interest rate hikes

“We will take the necessary steps to curb inflation,” Lagarde said on Wednesday before the European Parliament in Strasbourg. She underscored earlier statements that another rate hike of 0.50 percentage point is due in March.

After the interest rate decision in March, the ECB will assess the further path of monetary policy, said the central bank president. The further procedure is discussed from interest rate decision to interest rate decision. The aim is to bring inflation back to the two percent target for the medium term. At the beginning of the month, the ECB raised key interest rates by a further 0.50 points in the fight against high inflation.

Inflation in the euro area recently fell from 9.2 percent in December to 8.5 percent in January thanks to a weakening energy price surge. This means that inflation in the euro zone has fallen for the third month in a row – but this is different in Austria, where there was a new high in the current inflation surge of 11.1 percent in January (December: 10.2 percent).

Nonetheless, the monetary authorities’ medium-term inflation target of two percent is still a long way off. In addition, core inflation has recently remained at 5.2 percent, which is worrying the euro watchdogs. In the evening, the euro hardly reacted to the ECB President’s statements and continued to trade near the daily low of 1.0661 US dollars.