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ECB Holds Rates at 2%, Says Economy Remains Resilient in “A Challenging Global Environment”

5 February 2026

ECB Holds Rates at 2%, Says Economy Remains Resilient in “A Challenging Global Environment”
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, at the ECB monetary policy meeting on February 5, 2026. Photo by the ECB under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

By Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s Governing Council on Thursday left its key interest rates unchanged and said that the Eurozone economy was still resilient despite the “challenging” situation.

The three ECB interest rates will stay at 2.0% for the deposit facility, at 2.15% for the main refinancing operations and at 2.40% for the marginal lending facility.

In its statement, the Governing Council reaffirmed its view that inflation is expected to converge to the 2% target over the medium term.

“The economy remains resilient in a challenging global environment,” the press release said.

The statement pointed to low unemployment, solid private-sector balance sheets, higher defense and infrastructure spending, and the continued effects of past interest rate cuts as factors supporting growth. At the same time, it stressed that “the outlook is still uncertain, owing particularly to ongoing global trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.”

The ECB repeated that it would follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach and that it would not pre-commit to any specific rate path.