Unchanged he maintainedas expected, its key interest rates h European Central Bank (ECB) during today’s (Thursday) meeting of its Board of Directors.

However, even though, as it points out in its announcement, inflationary pressures remain strong, the new forecasts it published are estimated to “bring it a step forward” closer to lowering interest rates.

And this because according to the revised forecasts inflation is estimated to ease this year to 2.3% from 2.7% which was the previous January forecast, and to 2% (from 2.1%) in 2025. For 2026 the estimate remains unchanged at 1.9%.

Although most measures of core inflation have eased further, pressures on domestic prices remain high, partly due to strong wage growth. Financing conditions are tight and past interest rate hikes continue to weigh on demand, which is helping to dampen inflation, the ECB says.

On the growth front, the ECB lowered the bar for this year forecasting GDP growth of 0.6% (from 0.8%) keeping the forecast for growth unchanged at 1.5% in 2025 and 2026.

The president of the ECB is expected to give more clarifications Christine Lagarde at the usual press conference.