Lagarde tells IMF rate hikes of 25bp in June and September were measured, not looking through shock

Christine Lagarde's statement to the IMF's steering committee lays out the ECB's view of growth, inflation and financial stability risks, alongside concrete updates on monetary policy, the EUREP repo facility, and digital euro/tokenisation projects. Useful for compliance and treasury teams tracking policy direction and infrastructure timelines.

• The Governing Council raised key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points in September, following an identical increase in June.
• September headline inflation rose to 3.8% and core inflation to 2.5%, with headline inflation expected to return to around target towards the end of 2027.
• September ECB staff projections foresee euro area growth of 0.9% in 2026, 1.4% in 2027 and 1.5% in 2028.
• A 12-month internal digital euro pilot is planned for the second half of 2027, contingent on the EU adopting the digital euro Regulation by end-2026.
• The Eurosystem's Pontes DLT platform went live on 21 September as the first step toward a tokenised asset ecosystem under the Appia initiative.

Executive summary

Christine Lagarde delivered this statement at the fifty-fourth meeting of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee on 17 October 2026. She described the global economy as resilient despite the Middle East conflict, trade tensions and protectionist measures, with AI…

Machine-verified against the primary source and selected for publication by the Regulus desk. Not individually read by an editor. Lead briefings and anything our checks flag always are — how we review.