Lagarde Grants Italy Some Breathing Room With ECB Policy Pause
- Decision was first since Rome unveiled looser fiscal plans
- Markets had braced for PEPP discussion at Athens meeting
Christine Lagarde at a rates decision news conference in Athens, Greece, on Oct. 26.
Photographer: Yorgos Karahalis/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde just visited the scene of one of the bleakest moments in the euro’s history, and managed to avoid creating another one for now.
Speaking in Athens after one of the ECB’s occasional gatherings away from its Frankfurt home, she unveiled the first pause in interest-rate hikes since June 2022, and insisted any faster wind-down in bond holdings — a prospect that could heap pressure on highly indebted Italy — wasn’t even discussed.