ECB President Christine Lagarde: No Guarantee of December Action, Developments Still Match Expectations

According to Jin10, ECB President Christine Lagarde said she could not guarantee the ECB would act in December, but developments remained in line with her expectations based on current information, barring a major change. Asked about criticism that the ECB had responded slowly to previous energy shocks through the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Lagarde said the issue was not unique to Europe but faced by everyone. She described the current environment as marked by major uncertainty and unpredictability, a breakdown of the familiar global order, trade and supply-chain disruptions, and excessive focus on security over efficiency, all of which were changing the operating environment for economic participants. She said the ECB had decided to set monetary policy based on data and one meeting at a time.