European Central Bank President Lagarde: Inflation target has been achieved but far from being out of the woods yet.

European Central Bank President Lagarde stated that despite the EU reaching a trade agreement with the United States and the ECB successfully achieving its goal of stable prices, uncertainty about the future economic outlook still exists. Lagarde said in a television interview broadcast on Saturday, "Interest rates must target the level of inflation - that is indeed our goal, and we have now achieved that goal." Currently, the situation has become more predictable after the EU and the US reached an agreement to increase tariffs. However, compared to before Trump began implementing trade tariffs, the current situation is still not clear enough. Lagarde pointed out, "Uncertainty has decreased by around 50%, which is a significant improvement compared to the previous situation. But we still face many uncertainties, and everyone must deal with this reality." The European Central Bank kept its lending rate unchanged for the second consecutive meeting last week. Prior to this, the bank had lowered rates eight times within a year, each time by 25 basis points. Policymakers expect inflation to temporarily fall below the target level next year before stabilizing around the 2% target range; the economy is also expected to gradually strengthen in the coming quarters. Several officials stated that there is no need to further implement loose policies as long as the economy does not face significant shocks. However, some officials believe that the possibility of taking more policy measures should not be ruled out.