ECB keeps its key interest rates unchanged — deposit rate stays at 2.50%
The European Central Bank said on Thursday 29 October 2026 that its Governing Council decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged, in its own press release read in full — the deposit facility rate at 2.50%, the main refinancing rate at 2.65% and the marginal lending facility at 2.90%. The Council said energy prices have continued to rise, posing upside risks to the inflation outlook and downside risks to the growth outlook, while underlying inflation has remained broadly stable so far and wages do not show a material response at this stage. Reuters reports the same decision, and that the ECB warned inflation risks were on the rise.
Key points
- The ECB kept its three key interest rates unchanged on Thursday 29 October 2026 — deposit facility 2.50%, main refinancing operations 2.65%, marginal lending facility 2.90% — per the ECB's own press release, read in full.
- The ECB said energy prices have continued to rise, posing upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth, while underlying inflation has remained broadly stable and wages do not show a material response at this stage.
- The Governing Council will follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach and is not pre-committing to a particular rate path; it is committed to inflation stabilising at its 2% target in the medium term.
- The decision came hours after ECB President Christine Lagarde announced she will step down on 7 February 2027 — a separate Vozia brief — and Reuters reports the inflation warning may solidify market bets for a December rate hike.
Watch: the moment itself
Direct video sits at the top of Vozia's evidence ladder — the moment itself, from its owner. Embedded from its home platform; we never download or re-host it.
Video: European Central Bank · Watch on YouTube
What happened
The decision was published at 13:15 GMT on Thursday 29 October 2026, with President Lagarde's press conference scheduled to start at 14:45 CET the same day, per the ECB's release. Vozia's previous scan had the decision listed as still ahead; this brief is published now that the ECB's own release has been read directly in full.
It follows Wednesday's central-bank decisions carried as separate Vozia briefs — the Federal Reserve holding its range at 3.75% to 4.00% and the Bank of Canada raising its policy rate to 2.5% — and the ECB's own announcement the same morning that President Lagarde will step down on 7 February 2027.
Claim by claim
Why this label: From the European Central Bank's own press release, 'Monetary policy decisions', dated 29 October 2026 and read in full for this brief — the issuing body's own statement of its decision. Reuters reports the same decision: rates left unchanged, with the deposit rate at 2.5%.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The assessment is the ECB's own, from its press release read in full for this brief — reported here as the Council's stated assessment, not as Vozia's finding. Reuters quotes the same energy-prices wording from the ECB statement.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The approach, the portfolio wording and the Transmission Protection Instrument point are all from the ECB's own press release, read in full for this brief.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Show all claims (1 more)
Why this label: The twice-this-year point, the December-bets point and the France financing figures are Reuters' reporting of 29 October 2026, read in search in this run, and are reported here as Reuters states them. The decision itself, above, rests on the ECB's own release.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The decision and the three unchanged rates, the Council's energy, inflation, wages and financing-conditions assessment, and its data-dependent, non-pre-committing approach — from the European Central Bank's own 'Monetary policy decisions' press release of 29 October 2026, read in full, cross-checked against Reuters' same-day report of the same decision and rates.
What we don't know yet
- What President Lagarde will say at the press conference scheduled for 14:45 CET, or whether a December move follows — the press conference had not concluded at publication, and Reuters' December expectation is market reporting, not an ECB commitment; the ECB states it is not pre-committing to a particular rate path.
- Who will succeed Lagarde as ECB president — that appointment process, described in Vozia's separate Lagarde brief, is not addressed in this monetary-policy release.
Why it matters
The ECB's rates set the price of borrowing for the euro area's households, businesses and governments. Holding all three rates while warning that rising energy prices are lifting inflation risks — and that financing conditions, especially in France, have tightened on their own — leaves the December meeting open in both directions, on the same day the bank's president announced she will leave early.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Story published as a confirmed brief, based on the European Central Bank's own 'Monetary policy decisions' press release of 29 October 2026, read in full, cross-checked against Reuters' same-day report. The previous scan had listed this 13:15 GMT decision as still ahead; that read is now done. The ECB's own press-conference video was verified via YouTube oEmbed (HTTP 200, European Central Bank channel) and is attached.