Overview
- The European Central Bank raised its main deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.25% in a unanimous vote on Thursday, June 11, 2026.
- The bank said rising energy prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East have lifted inflation and it revised its projection to about 3.0% for 2026 while trimming near‑term growth to roughly 0.8%.
- Markets had already priced much of the move, with Euribor around 2.8%, and analysts warn that variable mortgages and new borrowing costs for households and firms will rise as bank rates feed through.
- ECB President Christine Lagarde said the decision was preventive and flexible, with further hikes left conditional on incoming data and on whether energy‑driven inflation sparks second‑round effects such as rising wages.
- The step ends a pause of almost three years since the last hike and highlights the bank’s trade‑off between anchoring inflation expectations and not deepening a fragile economic recovery.