Banks › European Central Bank › History › 19 Mar 2026
European Central Bank: decision of 19 March 2026
The ECB Governing Council kept its three key interest rates unchanged, leaving the deposit facility rate at 2.00%.
Decision
hold
- Rate
- 2.00%=2.00%
- Change
- 0 bp
- Vote
- unanimous
- Announced
- 14:15 Berlin time
Sources
- Statement
- ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.m…
- Account of the meeting
- ecb.europa.eu/press/accounts/2026/html/ecb.…
- Press conference
- ecb.europa.eu/press/press_conference/moneta…
- Recorded
- 19 Mar 2026
- Data
- JSON
What the bank said
The Governing Council said the war in the Middle East had made the outlook significantly more uncertain, with upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth, and would push up near-term inflation through higher energy prices.
It said staff now projected headline inflation of 2.6% in 2026, 2.0% in 2027 and 2.1% in 2028, revised up mainly because of higher energy prices.
It said it was well positioned to navigate the uncertainty, as inflation had been around the 2% target and longer-term inflation expectations were well anchored.
Guidance. The Governing Council said it would follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach and was not pre-committing to a particular rate path.
“The war in the Middle East has made the outlook significantly more uncertain, creating upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth.”
Before and after
- Previous decision: 5 Feb 2026, held the deposit facility rate at 2.00%.
- Next decision: 30 Apr 2026, held the deposit facility rate at 2.00%.
- All European Central Bank decisions and the rate history