Last week ECB staff published their latest projections for the euro area and this week we published our latest outlook for the Irish economy. Let me give some reflections on both. At our meeting last week, my Governing Council colleagues and I decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. In the latest projections, inflation has been revised down, in particular for 2024 which mainly reflects lower energy prices. Inflation in the euro area is expected to average 2.3 per cent this year, 2.0 per cent in 2025 and 1.9 per cent in 2026. The current data we have suggests that measures of underlying inflation ... (full story)