The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday decided to keep key interest rates unchanged at its first monetary policy meeting of 2026, marking the fifth consecutive hold since July 2025.
The deposit facility rate, the primary tool used by the ECB to steer monetary policy, remains unchanged at 2 percent, while the rates on the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility stay at 2.15 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.
The central bank reconfirmed in a statement that the inflation outlook remains stable and that the economy has shown resilience.
The ECB has reiterated that it will stick to its data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach in determining its future monetary policy stance.
The latest assessment by the ECB also remains unchanged regarding the outlook for inflation, which is expected to stabilize at 2 percent in the medium term.
Commenting on the decision, Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING Research, said the ECB's statement pointed to lingering uncertainty and reflected a heightened wait-and-see stance.
ECB holds interest rates steady
China urges the United States to respect a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that found U.S. clean energy subsidies under its Inflation Reduction Act inconsistent with WTO rules, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.
Ministry spokesman He Yadong made the remarks at a press briefing in Beijing when asked to comment on a statement by the Office of the United States Trade Representative regarding the ruling that requires the U.S. to withdraw the subsidies in question.
The U.S. side, while acknowledging it lost the case, said the ruling was wrong and claimed that existing WTO rules cannot address the issue of "overcapacity".
"As a WTO member, the U.S. should respect the ruling and comply with rules. The existing WTO rules were jointly negotiated and agreed upon by participants in the Uruguay Round, including the United States. As both a negotiating party and a signatory, the U.S. has an obligation to comply with its international treaty commitments," said He.
"The relevant actions and remarks by the U.S. are aimed at excusing its own violations of treaty obligations and abuse of subsidies and other protectionist practices, while attempting to shift the blame for insufficient industrial competitiveness and other domestic problems onto others. Such moves artificially interfere with and fragment global markets, undermining the stability of global industrial and supply chains," he said.
"The current international economic and trade order is facing severe shocks from unilateralism and protectionism, and safeguarding a multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is the shared responsibility of all WTO members. We urge the U.S. side to earnestly respect WTO rulings, promptly correct practices that violate WTO rules, and uphold the rules-based multilateral trading order through concrete actions," said the spokesman.
China urges U.S. to respect WTO ruling against Inflation Reduction Act
