The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept its Eurozone deposit rate at 2.0 percent. Despite sharply rising prices and heightened inflation expectations, the ECB refrained from a rate hike. Investors now anticipate moves from June onward.
In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank (ECB) left its Eurozone deposit rate steady at 2.0 percent following its Thursday meeting. The central bank is aligning with other major institutions in the US, UK, and Japan, which also held their key rates unchanged this week.
ECB President Christine Lagarde stated that policymakers had thoroughly discussed a potential rate hike. "The information is not yet sufficiently conclusive at this point," she said. This could change at the next rate decision in six weeks.
Investors had priced in an extension of the rate pause and now expect hikes from June. Experts view a rate increase as imminent. "A June rate hike is getting closer," said ING chief economist Carsten Brzeski. Christian Reicherter of DZ Bank noted that such a step "is shaping up," while Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer described it as "in the pipeline."
In its decision statement, the ECB emphasized: "Upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth have increased." It added that it remains "well equipped to address the current uncertainty."
