The European Central Bank raised its key interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday, in line with expectations, and signaled that policymakers plan to repeat the move in March, when they will evaluate the future path of policy rates.
The Governing Council, led by ECB President Christine Lagarde, had slowed the pace of interest rate hikes to 50 basis points from 75 basis points in December. Following the latest hike, the main refinancing rate, or refi, is at 3.00 percent, the deposit facility rate is at 2.50 percent and the lending rate is now 3.25 percent.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.