ECB’s Inflation Job Is ‘Nearing Completion,’ Lagarde Tells CNBC

The European Central Bank has almost achieved its goal of returning inflation to 2% but must remain flexible as the economic backdrop becomes more volatile, President Christine Lagarde told CNBC.

Speaking before the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington, Lagarde said she and her colleagues must be “data dependent in the extreme” as they decide whether to extend or pause an interest rate-cutting campaign that began in June 2024. For now, though, consumer-price growth is returning to the goal.