Disinflation in the euro area: A conversation with the European Central Bank’s Philip Lane

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been holding its key interest rate at 4% despite a declining inflation rate and a sluggish eurozone economy. Financial markets are betting that the central bank will begin cutting rates this spring, perhaps as early as April.

On Thursday, February 8, the Brookings Institution’s Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy hosted Philip Lane, a member of the ECB Executive Board and its chief economist, who offered his observations on disinflation in the euro area. Before joining the ECB Executive Board in 2019, Lane served for four years as governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. He previously was a professor at Trinity College Dublin.

Following Lane’s remarks, he responded to questions from Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, senior fellow in the Hutchins Center, and from the in-person and virtual audiences.

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