ECB "very unlikely" to raise rates in 2022, Lagarde says

Lagarde's comments come after she failed last week to push back market expectations and investors even briefly priced in two rate hikes in 2022

The European Central Bank is very unlikely to raise interest rates next year as inflation remains too low, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday, pushing back on market bets for a move as soon as next October, Qazet.az reports citing Reuters.

With inflation running at a 13-year-high, markets are increasingly betting that the ECB will retreat from its ultra easy monetary policy and raise rates next year for the first time in over a decade.

"In our forward guidance on interest rates, we have clearly articulated the three conditions that need to be satisfied before rates will start to rise," she told an event in Lisbon.

"Despite the current inflation surge, the outlook for inflation over the medium term remains subdued, and thus these three conditions are very unlikely to be satisfied next year."

Lagarde's comments come after she failed last week to push back market expectations and investors even briefly priced in two rate hikes in 2022.

But investors appeared to be paying attention this time and pricing for the next move, a 10 basis point increase, was pushed back on Wednesday from next October to December 2022.

Yields also fell across the board, as did the spread between German and Italian debt , a crucial indicator for the ECB.

Spanish central bank chief Pablo Hernandez de Cos, an influential voice on the rate-setting Governing Council, echoed Lagarde's message, arguing that market pricing was out of sync with the forward guidance.