Monetary policy decisions made between 2015 and 2023 can be found at bundesbank.de.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decides to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. Accordingly, the interest rate on the deposit facility still stands at 4 %. The interest rates on the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility stand at 4.5 % and 4.75 %, respectively. The incoming information has broadly confirmed the Governing Council’s previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook.

It continues to consider that the key ECB interest rates are at levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of inflation to the target. The Governing Council’s future decisions will ensure that the key ECB interest rates will be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary. It will continue to follow a data-dependent approach to determining the appropriate level and duration of restriction.

The Governing Council keeps the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. Since its previous monetary policy meeting in January, inflation has declined further. In the latest ECB staff macroeconomic projections, inflation has been revised down, in particular for 2024. Although most measures of underlying inflation have eased further, domestic price pressures remain high. 

The Governing Council announces changes to the operational framework for implementing short-term interest rates. It establishes key principles and parameters for implementing monetary policy and providing central bank liquidity. The Governing Council intends to continue to steer the monetary policy stance through the deposit facility rate. Short-term money market interest rates are expected to evolve in the vicinity of the deposit facility rate. The Governing Council also decides to adjust the interest rate on the main refinancing operations as from 18 September 2024 such that the spread between the rate on the main refinancing operations and the deposit facility rate will be reduced to 15 basis points from the current spread of 50 basis points. The rate on the marginal lending facility will then also be adjusted such that the spread between the rate on the marginal lending facility and the rate on the main refinancing operations will remain unchanged at 25 basis points. 

The Governing Council keeps the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. The incoming information has broadly confirmed the Governing Council’s previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook. Inflation has continued to fall, and most measures of underlying inflation are easing. However, domestic price pressures are strong and are keeping services price inflation high.

The Governing Council adjusts its previous monetary policy communication. It considers that the key interest rates are at levels that are making a substantial contribution to the ongoing disinflation process. If the Governing Council’s updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission were to further increase its confidence that inflation is converging to the target in a sustained manner, it would be appropriate to reduce the current level of monetary policy restriction. The Governing Council will continue to follow a data-dependent approach to determining the appropriate level and duration of restriction, and it is not pre-committing to a particular rate path.

The Governing Council decides to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. The interest rate on the deposit facility now stands at 3.75 %. Main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility are remunerated at 4.25 % and 4.5 %, respectively. Based on an updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission, the Governing Council deems it appropriate to moderate the degree of monetary policy restriction after nine months of holding rates steady. Since the last interest rate hike, agreed at the September 2023 meeting, inflation has fallen by more than 2.5 percentage points. Furthermore, the inflation outlook has improved markedly since then. However, the latest Eurosystem staff projections for both headline and core inflation have been revised up slightly for 2024 and 2025 compared with the March projections.

The Governing Council also confirms that it will reduce the Eurosystem’s holdings of securities under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) by €7.5 billion per month on average over the second half of the year. The modalities for reducing the PEPP holdings will be broadly in line with those followed under the asset purchase programme (APP).

Following its interest rate cut in June, the Governing Council keeps the three key ECB interest rates unchanged in July. The incoming information broadly supports the Governing Council’s previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook. 

Based on its updated assessment, the Governing Council considers it appropriate to take another step in moderating the degree of monetary policy restriction. It decides to lower the deposit facility rate, through which it steers the monetary policy stance, by 25 basis points to 3.5 %. The reasons cited by the Governing Council for the cut include the fact that inflation data have come in broadly as expected and the previous inflation outlook has been confirmed. ECB staff macroeconomic projections prepared in September for headline inflation are consistent with those from June. 

As announced back in March, changes to the operational framework for implementing monetary policy to adjust the spreads between the key interest rates will take effect at the same time as the interest rate cut on 18 September. Following this change, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations will stand at 3.65 % and the interest rate on the marginal lending facility will stand at 3.90 %.

The Governing Council decides to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. The deposit facility rate, through which the Governing Council steers the monetary policy stance, stands at 3.25 % after the interest rate cut. The interest rates on the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility stand at 3.4 % and 3.65 %, respectively. From the Governing Council’s perspective, the disinflation process is well on track. The inflation outlook is also affected by downside surprises in indicators of economic activity. 

The Governing Council once again decides to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. The deposit facility rate, through which the Governing Council steers the monetary policy stance, now stands at 3 %. The interest rates on the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility stand at 3.15 % and 3.4 %, respectively. From the Governing Council’s perspective, the disinflation process is well on track. Compared with the September projections, Eurosystem staff now expect a slightly lower inflation rate for 2024 and 2025. Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around the Governing Council’s 2 % medium-term target on a sustained basis. 

The Governing Council also adjusts its communication, removing previous indications about the appropriate level and duration of restriction. It will continue to follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance. The Governing Council is not pre-committing to a particular rate path.