European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said all interest rate options were open at the September meeting after the institution decided to suspend interest rates on Thursday. “The question of what we will do in September is open and we are determined to act on the evidence,” Lagarde said at a news conference following a monetary policy meeting on Thursday that decided to keep three key interest rates at current levels. The rate on core refinancing operations remains at 4.25%, the rate on the liquidity provision mechanism remains at 4.50%, and the rate on permanent deposits remains at 3.75%. In a statement released after the meeting, the ECB stressed that it would keep interest rates “at a sufficiently restrictive level for as long as necessary” to “ensure a timely return of inflation to the medium-term objective of 2%.” Recall that the ECB has raised interest rates ten times, having first lowered them in June last year. The monetary policy pursued by the central bank is aimed at containing inflation, which has intensified especially since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The inflation rate considered acceptable was set at 2%, and the current level is still lower. Inflation slowed to 2.5% in the eurozone in June and to 2.6% in the European Union, according to data released Wednesday by Eurostat. *WITH LUSOY