ECB’s Lagarde: Further Hikes Unlikely, Barring New Shocks

11 January 2024

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday said that interest rates were unlikely to increase again if the economic situation remained as expected.

In an interview with French public national broadcaster France 2, Lagarde said that ‘barring any further shocks or unexpected data, [interest rates] will not continue to go up.’

The time for reducing interest rates would come when there was certainty about inflation converging to target, she said, but avoided specifying a date.

‘And if we win our fight against inflation, and if we are certain that inflation will indeed be at 2%, at that point rates will start to go down’, she said.

The terminal level of interest rates had been achieved and ‘the hardest part is behind us’, she said.