ECB rate cut, expectations for June are growing. What did Lagarde say?

The ECB's rate cut is back in the spotlight with new statements from Christine Lagarde.
After the March meeting did not surprise expectations, with the cost of money still stuck at 4.5%, investors are anxiously awaiting the next meetings, assessed as decisive in seeing the beginning of a turning point in the cost of money.
As already anticipated in the press conference last March 7, Lagarde once again emphasized the month of June for the fate of monetary policy.
Is the rate cut really coming this summer? The latest statements and what to expect now from the ECB.
ECB rate cut in June? Lagarde's last words On Wednesday, March 20, the head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, reiterated that June is the month in which politicians will consider lowering interest rates.
“By June we will have a new set of projections that will confirm whether the path of inflation that we predicted in our March forecast remains valid,” Lagarde said in a speech in Frankfurt.
The June meeting is seen as a potential turning point, as it will be the first for which data from the spring wage negotiations will be available.
The ECB is on alert for the potential inflationary effects of rising payrolls.
read also ECB rates at 4.5%, who benefits? Here's who wins and who loses The overall tone was quite positive: “Unlike previous phases of our political cycle, there are reasons to believe that the expected disinflationary path will continue,” he said, underlining confidence in the latest set of projections staff's macroeconomic forecasts, which see inflation averaging 2.3% in 2024, 2% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026.
However, there have been signs of caution about how many interest rate cuts will be made during the year.
“Our decisions will have to remain dependent on data and from one meeting to the next, responding to new information as it arrives,” Lagarde explained.
“This implies that, even after the first rate cut, we cannot pre-commit to a particular rate path.” Lagarde explained the conditions necessary for the ECB to start cutting rates: slowing wage growth, continued decline in inflation and new internal projections confirming that price growth is returning to its 2% target.
“If this data reveals a sufficient degree of alignment between the path of underlying inflation and our projections, and assuming transmission remains strong, we will be able to move into the dial back phase of our policy cycle and ease policy ”, he clarified.
read also Turnaround on ECB rates coming, here's why With the timing of the first reduction becoming increasingly clear, the debate is therefore shifting to how quickly the ECB will put an end to its historic campaign of rate increases and where the financial costs will end up .