Central Bank


ECB’s Lagarde: Europe Must Build AI Capacity, Mobilize Savings at Home

ECB’s Lagarde: Europe Must Build AI Capacity, Mobilize Savings at Home

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Europe must develop its own artificial intelligence capacity to capture the technology’s economic gains without surrendering control over its data or becoming strategically dependent on foreign providers, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Monday.

14 September 2026
ECB’s Schnabel: Debt Stabilization Requires Large Fiscal Adjustments

ECB’s Schnabel: Debt Stabilization Requires Large Fiscal Adjustments

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said Monday that stabilizing public debt would require large fiscal adjustments as governments faced growing demands from defense, interest payments, aging and climate change alongside slowing potential growth.

14 September 2026
ECB’s Stournaras: Timely Tightening Can Reduce Risk of More Painful Hikes

ECB’s Stournaras: Timely Tightening Can Reduce Risk of More Painful Hikes

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member and Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Monday said monetary policy tightening became necessary when supply-driven inflation threatened to broaden and become entrenched, arguing that timely action could reduce the risk of more abrupt and painful rate increases later.

14 September 2026
ECB’s Kažimír: Time Needed to Assess Energy Shock Propagation

ECB’s Kažimír: Time Needed to Assess Energy Shock Propagation

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank needs time to determine whether the persistent energy shock is spreading to longer-term inflation expectations, wages and prices before deciding its next move, Governing Council member and Národná banka Slovenska Governor Peter Kažimír said Monday.

14 September 2026
ECB: Eurozone Governments Eye Year-End Deal on Three Top Jobs, Says FT

ECB: Eurozone Governments Eye Year-End Deal on Three Top Jobs, Says FT

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Eurozone governments aim to agree by the end of December on a “grand package” covering the European Central Bank presidency and two other Executive Board positions, the Financial Times reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

14 September 2026
ECB's Kocher: Inflation Must Return to Target "Within About a Year"

ECB's Kocher: Inflation Must Return to Target "Within About a Year"

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member and Austrian National Bank Governor Martin Kocher said the current energy shock could result in temporarily higher inflation, but that the overshoot must be brief and inflation should return to target "within about a year."

13 September 2026
ECB’s Lagarde: Persistent Energy Shock Obliged Us to Hike Rates

ECB’s Lagarde: Persistent Energy Shock Obliged Us to Hike Rates

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank was obliged to raise interest rates because the energy shock was proving more persistent than initially expected and the euro area economy remained resilient, ECB President Christine Lagarde said Saturday.

12 September 2026
ECB’s Makhlouf Says 25bp Hike Was Measured Response, Warns Against Much More Tightening

ECB’s Makhlouf Says 25bp Hike Was Measured Response, Warns Against Much More Tightening

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said Friday that he supported Thursday’s 25bp rate increase because inflation remained above target with upside risks, core inflation had yet to ease decisively and growth had remained resilient, while warning that substantially more tightening could impose meaningful economic costs.

11 September 2026
ECB’s Šimkus Declines to Call Next Move, Says Inflation Still Too High

ECB’s Šimkus Declines to Call Next Move, Says Inflation Still Too High

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gediminas Šimkus declined Friday to predict further interest rate moves one day after the ECB’s latest hike, stressing the need for caution in communicating about future decisions even as he said inflation remained too high.

11 September 2026
ECB Tone Meter Weekly Update: Hawkish Bias Eases, But Further Hikes Remain on the Table

ECB Tone Meter Weekly Update: Hawkish Bias Eases, But Further Hikes Remain on the Table

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter declined this week across both its Governing Council and Executive Board measures, as policymakers emerged from the September meeting stopping short of calling for another hike, while signaling that further tightening remained a possibility amid elevated inflation risks.

11 September 2026
ECB’s Kocher Says Too Early to Call Further Rate Moves, Inflation Risks High

ECB’s Kocher Says Too Early to Call Further Rate Moves, Inflation Risks High

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that the outlook was still too uncertain to judge whether additional interest rate increases would be needed in the euro area, while warning that inflation risks remained elevated and underlying price pressures required continued vigilance.

11 September 2026
ECB’s Nagel: Cannot Exclude Move Into Mildly Restrictive Territory

ECB’s Nagel: Cannot Exclude Move Into Mildly Restrictive Territory

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank may need to move interest rates into mildly restrictive territory, depending on the development of energy prices and the broader inflation picture, ECB Governing Council member and Deutsche Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said Friday.

11 September 2026
ECB’s Patsalides: No Material Signs of Second-Round Inflation Pressures

ECB’s Patsalides: No Material Signs of Second-Round Inflation Pressures

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – There are no material signs of second-round inflation pressures in the euro area, while inflation expectations remain under control, European Central Bank Governing Council member and Central Bank of Cyprus Governor Christodoulos Patsalides said Friday.

11 September 2026
ECB’s Dolenc: Markets Do Not Rule Out 3.25% Deposit Rate by Mid-2027

ECB’s Dolenc: Markets Do Not Rule Out 3.25% Deposit Rate by Mid-2027

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Market participants have increased their expectations of European Central Bank tightening and do not exclude that the deposit rate will reach 3.25% by mid-2027, ECB Governing Council member and Banka Slovenije Governor Primož Dolenc said Friday.

11 September 2026