{"id":469675,"date":"2026-10-29T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T16:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/29\/la-bce-lascia-invariati-i-tassi-ma-sul-futuro-pesano-caro-energia-e-condizioni-di-finanziamento\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:55:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:55:51","slug":"the-ecb-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged-but-high-energy-prices-and-financing-conditions-are-casting-a-shadow-over-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/29\/the-ecb-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged-but-high-energy-prices-and-financing-conditions-are-casting-a-shadow-over-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"The ECB leaves interest rates unchanged, but high energy prices and financing conditions are casting a shadow over the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The European Central Bank\u2019s key interest rates remain unchanged. At least for now. This is the decision taken by the Governing Council of the ECB at its meeting today<\/a> (29 October): \u201cThe interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will remain unchanged at 2.50 per cent, 2.65 per cent and 2.90 per cent respectively.\u201d In fact, the issue of raising them was on the agenda, and the ECB discussed whether \u201ca rate rise would be appropriate, but decided unanimously to keep rates on hold and that a measured approach was the right one,\u201d clarified the President, Christine Lagarde<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

This does not mean that the situation is set in stone, but rather that it remains under constant review and subject to possible reassessment. \u201cSince our last meeting, financing conditions have tightened; a factor that is likely to weigh on both inflation and growth,<\/strong>\u201d acknowledges Lagarde. But \u201cwe are determined to steer monetary policy in such a way as to ensure that inflation stabilises at our 2 per cent target over the medium term\u201d and \u201cwell equipped to deal with the current high level of uncertainty,\u201d she reassures. In particular, the ECB will adopt \u201ca data-driven approach that will assess the situation on a case-by-case basis at each meeting,\u201d and its decisions on interest rates \u201cwill be based on an assessment of the inflation outlook and the associated risks.\u201d In fact, \u201ctoday\u2019s decision\u201d<\/strong> not to raise rates \u201cdoes not preclude the possibility\u201d of doing so in the future<\/strong>. \u201cThe next meeting is scheduled for December and, unless the current assessment is altered by significant developments, the way forward is already clear,\u201d<\/strong> she explains. <\/p>\n

The recipe laid out by Lagarde sounds like a mantra. \u201cHigher potential growth requires structural reforms and must be underpinned by sound public finances\u201d and \u201cthe sustainability of public finances is a fundamental anchor for broader economic stability\u201d, she points out, with a special reference to countries whose public debt has spiralled out of control: \u201cCountries with high levels of debt must take into account in their fiscal policy plans the fact that interest rates are higher and are likely to remain higher for some time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Furthermore, fiscal measures to address the energy shock \u201cshould be temporary, targeted, and specific\u201d, while \u201csimplifying and harmonising rules within the EU Single Market, accelerating the energy transition, and completing the savings and investment union are key elements in making our economy more dynamic and resilient.\u201d Finally, \u201cas the process of defining the legal framework for the digital euro enters its final phase, we reiterate the importance of reaching an agreement on the Single Currency Package as soon as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

These are the challenges, against a backdrop where inflation rose to 3.8 per cent in September, up from 3.2 per cent in August, and energy price inflation recorded \u201ca marked increase,\u201d rising to 18.9 per cent from 14.3 per cent in August. \u201cEnergy prices have risen above the baseline scenario envisaged in the ECB staff\u2019s September projections,\u201d the President acknowledges, explaining that \u201cthis is likely to lead to a further rise in inflation in the short term,\u201d while \u201cthereafter, the decline in energy inflation, together with the effects of higher interest rates, should help bring inflation back towards the target.\u201d <\/p>\n

In conclusion, the risks to the growth outlook are skewed to the downside<\/strong>, because \u201cany further disruptions to energy supplies could lead to a sharper and more prolonged rise in energy prices than currently forecast\u201d and \u201ca deterioration in global financial market conditions<\/strong>, or an intensification of the fallout on global bond markets, could lead to a tightening of financing conditions, thereby dampening demand.<\/strong>\u201d Added to this is \u201cuncertainty regarding public finances,\u201d which \u201ccould contribute to tighter financing conditions and weaken confidence, with negative repercussions on consumption and investment.\u201d Finally, \u201ca resurgence of trade tensions between major economies could further disrupt supply chains, reduce exports, and weaken consumption and investment.\u201d <\/p>\n

On the contrary, the risks to the inflation outlook are on the upside<\/strong>, because “the energy shock could intensify further<\/strong>, with potentially more pronounced repercussions on the prices of other goods and on wages than currently anticipated.” In particular, gas prices \u201ccould rise in the event of further supply disruptions or should an unusually harsh winter coincide with low stock levels.\u201d In this regard too, \u201cthe resurgence of trade tensions could lead to greater fragmentation of global supply chains, reduce the supply of critical raw materials and exacerbate capacity constraints in the euro area economy,\u201d while \u201cextreme weather events \u2013 potentially exacerbated by the intensification of the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon \u2013 and, more generally, the ongoing climate and environmental crises, could lead to a larger-than-expected rise in food prices.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Christine Lagarde: \u201cToday\u2019s decision does not rule out the possibility of a further rate rise. The next meeting is scheduled for December\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7874,"featured_media":469642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"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","show_comment_section":"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":[26112,26152,36423,28413,36424,26554],"class_list":["post-469675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bce-en","tag-christine-lagarde-en","tag-condizioni-di-finanziamento","tag-expensive-energy","tag-invariati","tag-tassi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469675","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\/7874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469676,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469675\/revisions\/469676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}