ECB holds rates at 2.5% on the day Lagarde announces her early exit - Euronews.com

The European Central Bank (ECB) left its key deposit rate unchanged at 2.5% on Thursday, at a meeting overshadowed by President Christine Lagarde's announcement earlier in the day that she will leave her post next February, months before her term ends. The pause comes as a sell-off in French government bonds pushes up borrowing costs across the eurozone, while inflation runs at 3.8%, almost double the ECB's 2% target. The decision by the Governing Council, which sets interest rates for the 21 countries that use the euro, follows two rate hikes this year, the latest in September, as energy prices linked to the Iran war drove inflation higher. The rates on its main refinancing operations and marginal lending facility also stay at 2.65% and 2.