Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Albina Kenda

9 November 2023

The ECB did not change its key interest rates at its October meeting, interrupting the series of ten consecutive interest rate increases that had brought rates up by 4.5 percentage points since July 2022. A few days later Eurostat announced that euro area headline inflation had fallen to 2.9% in October. Does this mean that interest rate hikes are over?

It means we are maintaining interest rates at their current level, and we believe that this will substantially contribute to bringing inflation back down to the 2% level we define as price stability.

The evolution of inflation has been positive overall: it was above 10% only one year ago and it has now fallen to 2.9%. At the same time, core inflation has also been moderating. But we have to be prudent and cautious, as there are some risks around the outlook for inflation over the next few months. We will continue taking a…