Christine Lagarde

President, European Central Bank

President Lagarde presents the latest monetary policy decisions – 23 July 2026

📅 Jul 23, 2026 European Central Bank 14 MIN 72 VIEWS 8 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

Today our Governing Council decided on monetary policy. Listen to President Christine Lagarde present today’s decisions. The statement also covers: • how the economy is performing • how we expect prices to develop • the risks to the economic outlook • the dynamics behind financial and monetary conditions Published and recorded during our press conference on 23 July 2026. Our monetary policy statement at a glance, 23 July 2026 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/press... Christine Lagarde, Boris Vujčić: Monetary policy statement, 23 July 2026 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/press... Monetary...

What Christine Lagarde said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Christine Lagarde announced that the ECB's governing council kept the three key interest rates unchanged, citing high uncertainty from the Middle East conflict and its impact on energy prices. She noted that inflation declined to 2.8% in June from 3.2% in May, with energy price inflation at 8.5%, and core inflation easing to 2.4%. Lagarde said inflation is likely to stay well above target into the first half of 2027, with risks to growth to the downside and inflation to the upside. She highlighted modest economic growth, supported by services recovery and AI-related activity, and reiterated a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach with no precommitment to a rate path. She also welcomed the European Parliament's vote on the digital euro and called for urgent structural reforms.

Key takeaways

ECB kept all three key interest rates unchanged at the July 23, 2026 meeting.
Inflation declined to 2.8% in June from 3.2% in May, with energy price inflation at 8.5%.
Inflation is expected to remain well above the 2% target into the first half of 2027.
ECB is not precommitting to a particular rate path and will remain data-dependent.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
2.8%	June 2026 headline inflation rate	metric	5:19
3.2%	May 2026 headline inflation rate	metric	5:19
8.5%	June 2026 energy price inflation	metric	5:19
2.4%	June 2026 core inflation excluding energy and food	metric	5:19
6.2%	Unemployment rate in May 2026	metric	2:24
3.6%	Bank lending rate for firms in May 2026	metric	11:19
4%	Cost of issuing market-based debt in May 2026	metric	11:19
4%	Annual growth rate of bank lending to firms in April 2026	metric	11:19
3.5%	Mortgage rates in May 2026	metric	11:19
3.1%	Mortgage lending growth in May 2026	metric	11:19

Chapters

0:00Interest rate decision and stance
2:24Economic activity outlook
4:03Fiscal policy and digital euro
5:19Inflation developments
7:09Inflation outlook and risks
11:19Financial conditions and credit

Host 0:01 ↗

Today, the European Central Bank's governing council took its latest monetary policy decisions. In this episode, you hear President Christine Lagarde deliver the monetary policy statement from the press conference where she explains the decisions. You're listening to Euro Matters, the European Central Bank podcast. Today is Thursday, the 23rd of July, 2026, and here is the monetary policy statement.

2 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Lagarde, C. (2026, July 23). President Lagarde presents the latest monetary policy decisions – 23 July 2026 [Interview transcript]. European Central Bank. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1114843/

MLA

Christine Lagarde. "President Lagarde presents the latest monetary policy decisions – 23 July 2026." European Central Bank, 23 Jul. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1114843/.

BibTeX

@misc{lagarde2026_1114843,
  author       = {Christine Lagarde},
  title        = {President Lagarde presents the latest monetary policy decisions – 23 July 2026},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, European Central Bank. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jul},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1114843/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“The governing council today decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. We are committed to setting monetary policy to ensure that inflation stabilizes at our 2% target in the medium term. We will follow a data dependent and meeting by meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance.”

▶ 0:34 POLICY

“The positive vote in the European Parliament earlier this month was a significant milestone on the path to establishing the digital euro. We welcome the shared objective of the parliament, the European Union Council and the Commission of reaching agreement by the end of this year on the single currency package. The digital euro will complement physical cash with its digital equivalent, providing a”

▶ 4:37 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

European Parliament: Positive vote on digital euro package was a significant milestone.

European Union Council: Shared objective to reach agreement on single currency package by end of year.

United States: Memorandum of understanding with Iran in June was a first attempt to resolve conflict.

Iran: Memorandum of understanding with US in June was a first attempt to resolve conflict.

Russia: Unjustified war against Ukraine remains a major source of uncertainty.

Ukraine: Russia's war against Ukraine remains a major source of uncertainty.

Earlier, on the same topics

“We are committed to setting monetary policy to ensure that inflation stabilizes at our 2% target in the medium term. We will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance. Our interest rate decisions will be based on our assessment of t”

monetary policy · Apr 30, 2026 at 0:04 →

“The governing council today decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. Our updated assessment reconfirms that inflation should stabilize at our 2% target in the medium term. We will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary polic”

monetary policy · Feb 05, 2026 at 47:08 →

“We will closely monitor the situation and follow a data dependent and meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance. In particular, our interest rate decisions will be based on our assessment of inflation outlook and the risks surrounding it in light of the incoming economic”

monetary policy · Jun 11, 2026 at 3:35 →

“We will closely monitor the situation and follow a data dependent and meeting by meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance. In particular, our interest rate decisions will be based on our assessment of inflation outlook and the risks surrounding it in light of the incomi”

monetary policy · Jun 11, 2026 at 7:41 →

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About Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), has been active in public engagements over the past two months, addressing monetary policy, inflation, and the digital euro. At the CNN Global Perspectives event in Bangkok in October 2026, she stated that fiscal discipline, particularly in countries like France, is the primary solution to rising bond yields, and she argued that Europe's economic growth is stronger than often perceived, citing upward revisions to 1.1% for 2026. She also discussed the impact of energy shocks from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, saying the ECB does not react to energy prices directly but monitors for second-round effects on inflation. Lagarde reaffirmed the ECB's commitment to its 2% medium-term inflation target, noting that inflation is projected to remain above target until the end of 2027 or 2028. On the digital euro, Lagarde announced that the Eurosystem will launch "Pontes," a distributed-ledger infrastructure for banks, on September 21, 2026, and expressed hope that the legislative process for the digital euro would be completed by the end of the year, with a pilot expected in mid-2027. She described the digital euro as a means for Europe to maintain control over its payment infrastructure, while acknowledging a role for stablecoins in moving crypto assets into fiat currency. In September, the ECB's Governing Council raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, a decision Lagarde described as a "no-brainer" and a unanimous choice to address inflation pressures. She also spoke on artificial intelligence, noting its potential to transform productivity and inflation dynamics, and emphasized the need for Europe to achieve "AI sovereignty."

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