The European Central Bank (ECB) will take a "robust" approach that allows it to respond to the risks of inflation as necessary, the president of the entity, Christine Lagarde, raised this Wednesday during her speech at an event.
Lagarde stressed at a conference with ECB observers in Frankfurt that "with heightened uncertainty, it is even more important that the pace of interest rate movements is data dependent." Hence, the entity does not commit ex ante to interest rates, so they are not committed to increasing them further, nor have the increases ended. There is "way to go" to combat inflation, he has said.
Lagarde argues that the rate hikes, which started in July, are just beginning to take effect and are now being felt in the economy, although they could become more apparent with the crisis of confidence in banks that has been experienced in recent weeks. Banks could charge higher rates on their loans to protect themselves from the risks they incur by leaving the money behind, he has said.
