ECB governing board meets in Athens; interest rates unchanged

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) Governing Council on Thursday decided to maintain a key interest rate at 4 percent, during a milestone meeting in Athens, the first held in the Greek capital in 15 years.

The governors of euro area central banks and the six members of the ECB’s executive board met at the Bank of Greece’s (BoG) headquarters in downtown Athens, a nod what ECB President Christine Lagarde called Greece’s “amazing turnaround”.

The decision to keep rates at their current level comes after 10 consecutive hikes, dating to July 2022, which pushed its key rate to a record-high 4 percent.

Lagarde pointed to a “broad based” decline in inflation to 4.3 percent last month, with fuel costs easing and continuous food price increases also leveling out.

She emphasized that high rates would also help contain inflation to the Eurozone central bank’s goal of 2 percent, if “maintained for a sufficiently long duration.”