Lagarde said the ECB’s continued “data-driven” approach became much more important as the economy began to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the statements of Klaas Knot, Member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council, that there might be an interest rate hike, ECB President Christine Lagarde stated that any change in monetary policy would be “gradual”.

Expressing that ECB officials should maintain their flexibility, Lagarde said, “We will closely monitor the incoming data and carefully evaluate its effects on the medium-term inflation outlook.”

After the inflation rate in the Euro Zone exceeded the target of 5.1 percent and 2 percent last month, the ECB President hawked his tone at last week’s interest rate meeting, and this time he did not use the phrase “There is no interest rate increase this year”, which he used in previous meetings.