{"id":420569,"date":"2025-03-06T15:28:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T14:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/03\/06\/bce-taglia-tassi-rischi-dazi-inflazione\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T17:02:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T16:02:41","slug":"ecb-cuts-rates-by-0-25-pct-pts-but-warns-of-tariff-risks-to-inflation-and-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/03\/06\/ecb-cuts-rates-by-0-25-pct-pts-but-warns-of-tariff-risks-to-inflation-and-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"ECB cuts rates by 0.25 pct pts but warns of tariff risks to inflation and growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels &#8211;<strong>The disinflation process &#8220;is well on track,&#8221;<\/strong> and estimates &#8220;Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around our 2 percent medium-term target.&#8221; In light\u00a0of these considerations and even more so these expectations, the <span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/03\/03\/eurozone-inflation-slows-to-2-4-percent-in-february-ecb-considers-more-rate-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Central Bank Governing Council, as expected,<\/a>\u00a0chose to <strong>cut\u00a0interest rates again<\/strong>. A\u00a0<strong>0.25 percentage point easing <\/strong>that will lead the interest rate on deposits with the central bank will drop to 2.5 percent\u00a0from <strong>March 12<\/strong>, the rate on the main refinancing operations will rise to 2.65 percent, and the interest rate on the marginal lending facility will fall to 2.90 percent.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The inflation expectations trend is behind the choices made in Frankfurt. Experts now point to an overall <strong>cost of living at 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026, and 2 percent in 2027<\/strong>,\u00a0 ECB president <strong>Christine Lagarde<\/strong> said. Forecasts that<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/03\/20\/lagarde-2-per-cent-inflation-by-mid-2025-earlier-than-expected\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0contradict Lagarde&#8217;s expectation for a return to the benchmark target as early as the middle of this year<\/a>. However, it will not be so. &#8220;<strong>The upward revision in headline inflation for 2025 reflects stronger energy price dynamics<\/strong>,&#8221; Lagarde warns, sounding alarm bells about the risk of new energy crises after the one that followed the Russian-Ukrainian war.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_420558\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 1197px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-420558 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306.png\" width=\"1197\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306.png 1197w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306-750x423.png 750w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lagarde-250306-1140x643.png 1140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1197px) 100vw, 1197px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-420558\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ECB president, Christine Lagarde [Frankfurt, March 6, 2025]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0px;\">Lagarde does not hide that everything can change. &#8220;<strong>A general escalation in trade tensions <\/strong>could see the euro depreciate and import costs rise<strong>, which would put upward pressure on inflation<\/strong>.&#8221; Today&#8217;s (March 6) could be the last rate cut. Net of that, the message for policymakers is to avoid a tariff war to shield themselves\u00a0from the worst. Because <strong>trade tensions &#8220;could reduce the pace of growth in the EU area and reduce investment,<\/strong>&#8221; the\u00a0ECB president continues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0px;\">Precisely for this reason, &#8220;in light of the uncertainties, we will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach.&#8221; It means that &#8220;if the data suggest that we\u00a0can cut, we will cut. If, on the other hand, the data suggest not to cut, we will not cut.&#8221; At the same time, governments and EU institutions, precisely because of an increasingly unstable and unpredictable framework, should proceed with the policy agenda without delay. &#8220;The European Commission\u2019s Competitiveness <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/01\/29\/von-der-leyen-presents-the-competitiveness-compass-simplification-is-the-new-eu-watchword\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Compass <\/a>provides a concrete roadmap for action and its proposals should be swiftly adopted<span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">,&#8221; the president said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0px;\">&#8220;There are uncertainties everywhere,&#8221; Lagarde bluntly said. That is why, she insists,<span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">\u00a0&#8220;governments should ensure sustainable public finances in line with the EU\u2019s economic governance framework and prioritize essential growth-enhancing structural reforms and strategic investment.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"jCAhz JpY6Fd\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"> She adds, <strong>&#8220;An increase in defense and infrastructure spending could also add to growth.&#8221;<\/strong> Support for the plan to rearm Europe developed by the Commission.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disinflation path &#8220;well on track,&#8221; but risks on the horizon increase. Lagarde: &#8220;There are uncertainties everywhere. Forge ahead with reforms. More defense spending could add to growth.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":420564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[27336,26112,26152,26598,25866,26151,25828,26107,26153],"class_list":["post-420569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bce-en","tag-christine-lagarde-en","tag-dazi-en","tag-energy-en","tag-bank-central-en-en","tag-eurozone-en","tag-inflation-en","tag-tassi-di-interesse-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420569"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420577,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420569\/revisions\/420577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}