Any pause at an European Central Bank monetary-policy meeting could be followed by another increase in interest rates, according to President Christine Lagarde.

(Bloomberg) — Any pause at an European Central Bank monetary-policy meeting could be followed by another increase in interest rates, according to President Christine Lagarde.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by Kevin Carmichael, Victoria Wells, Jake Edmiston, Gabriel Friedman and others.
- Daily content from Financial Times, the world’s leading global business publication.
- Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.
- National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by Kevin Carmichael, Victoria Wells, Jake Edmiston, Gabriel Friedman and others.
- Daily content from Financial Times, the world’s leading global business publication.
- Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.
- National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
REGISTER TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
At the next meeting in September, “there could be a further hike of the policy rate or perhaps a pause,” she told Le Figaro newspaper. “A pause, whenever it occurs, in September or later, would not necessarily be definitive.”
The comments come after the ECB last week hiked rates by another quarter-point, with Lagarde stressing that decisions from here will depend on incoming data. She reaffirmed that stance in Sunday’s Figaro interview.
“We are in an environment of uncertainty and will reassess the situation and our action on a meeting-by-meeting basis,” she said. “We are committed to returning inflation to our target in a timely manner and for this we need a sufficiently restrictive policy in terms of level and length.”
Economists still predict the ECB will raise borrowing costs one more time — just not necessarily in September.
Euro-area figures due Monday are set to show that inflation in the region stood at 5.3% in July, according to the median forecasts of economists. Their estimates suggest that an underlying gauge stripping out volatile elements such as energy exceeded that measure for the first time since early 2021, reaching 5.4%.
Those numbers will be released alongside gross domestic product data that may show the euro zone returned to growth in the three months through June, as an unexpectedly buoyant French economy made up for stagnation in Germany.
“The second-quarter GDP figures for France, Germany and Spain are quite encouraging,” Lagarde was cited as saying. “They support our scenario of GDP growth of 0.9% in the euro area this year.”