ECB awaits more data before making policy decisions, Lagarde says in World Economy News 22/04/2026 The European Central Bank requires additional data before reaching definitive policy conclusions regarding the economic impact of the war in Iran, ECB President Christine Lagarde said. The economic consequences of the conflict have not yet reached levels matching the ECB’s adverse scenario, Lagarde stated in a speech in Berlin. Energy prices increased last month due to the war, but policymakers currently lack concrete evidence that this is causing second-round price impacts, which would be a key factor in deciding whether to raise interest rates. Lagarde’s remarks, delivered less than two weeks before the April 30 policy meeting, are expected to support market expectations that a rate hike in April is unlikely, even if one becomes necessary later. “So far, we have not seen energy prices rise far enough to push us squarely into our adverse scenario,” Lagarde said, according to a Reuters report. “This uncertainty about the duration of the shock and the breadth of pass-through argues for gathering more information before drawing firm conclusions for our monetary policy,” she added. spot and futures prices currently exceed the bank’s baseline projections, while prices remain below those assumptions, partly because some Asian gas buyers are switching to coal, Lagarde noted. The ECB is currently dealing with two competing forces. The memory of the 2022 inflation shock remains strong among firms and households, which may lead them to adjust wage and price demands more rapidly this time, Lagarde said. Source: Investing.com 2026-04-22 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share