ECB’s Nagel: Cannot Say Rates Are No Longer Restrictive From Today’s Perspective

25 February 2025

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Tuesday that he could not currently confirm that interest rates were no longer restrictive.

In a press conference after the presentation of the annual account for 2024 of the Bundesbank, which he heads, Nagel said that ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel’s February 19 assessment that rates were potentially no longer restrictive was based on her judgement of the environment at the time.

‘[M]y conclusions at the time wouldn’t have been the same’, he said. ‘From today’s perspective, I would say the ECB’s key interest rates are appropriate.’

According to Nagel, his opinion was based on data and how these were expected to develop in the upcoming months.

‘And perhaps I will end up sometime with the conclusion that we're no longer tight’, he added. ‘But from today's perspective, I cannot say that.’

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