Jan 30 (Reuters) - Here is the statement delivered by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde following the bank's policy meeting on Thursday:
Link to statement on ECB website:
Good afternoon, the Vice-President and I welcome you to our press conference.
Today, the Governing Council has chosen to decrease the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. Notably, the decision to reduce the deposit facility rate – which guides the monetary policy stance – is grounded on our revised evaluation of the inflation forecast, the behavior of underlying inflation, and the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission.
We are determined to ensure that inflation stabilizes sustainably at our two per cent medium-term target," Lagarde said. "We will take a data-driven approach, adjusting our monetary policy stance on a meeting-by-meeting basis, considering the inflation perspective, economic and financial data, underlying inflation dynamics, and policy transmission strength. We are not committing to a specific rate trajectory.
Lagarde emphasized that recent interest rate cuts are gradually decreasing borrowing costs for businesses and households. Although facing challenges, the economy is expected to benefit from increasing real incomes and easing impacts of past restrictive monetary policies, ultimately supporting a recovery in demand.
We are prepared to adapt all our tools within our mandate to ensure inflation maintains our medium-term target and to preserve the effective functioning of monetary policy transmission, Lagarde concluded before opening the floor for questions.