{"format":"alysly-page/1","url":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/","json":"https://alysly.com/json/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/index.json","lang":"en-US","title":"ECB Policy Rate Today | History Since 1999 and What It Means","description":"Current ECB main refinancing rate, deposit facility rate and €STR with full history since 1999 — plus what rate moves mean for deposits, bonds and equities.","modified":"2026-10-31T00:00:00Z","alternates":[{"lang":"de-DE","url":"https://alysly.com/de/zinsen/leitzins/","json":"https://alysly.com/json/de/zinsen/leitzins/index.json"}],"about":"Machine-readable version of the page at url. It contains the text, tables and key figures published there, but not the interactive charts and tools.","breadcrumb":[{"name":"Rates & inflation","url":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/"},{"name":"ECB Policy Rate","url":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/"}],"content":[{"type":"heading","level":1,"text":"ECB Policy Rate"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The European Central Bank’s policy rate is the most important price in capital markets: it sets what banks pay for central-bank money and feeds through to deposit rates, mortgages, bond yields and equity valuations. Three rates matter in practice — the main refinancing rate (the headline policy rate), the deposit facility rate at which banks park excess cash, and €STR as the actual overnight interbank rate."},{"type":"facts","items":[{"label":"ECB main refinancing rate","value":"2.65%"},{"label":"ECB deposit facility rate","value":"2.50%"},{"label":"€STR (euro short-term rate)","value":"2.44%"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As of October 31, 2026 · series since Jan 1, 1999 (7135 observations) · change vs previous +0.00."},{"type":"facts","items":[{"label":"All-time high","value":"4.50%"},{"label":"All-time low","value":"0.00%"},{"label":"Data starts","value":"Jan 1, 1999"},{"label":"Frequency","value":"daily"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Data note 1","href":"#dn-1"},{"type":"heading","level":2,"text":"History by Year"},{"type":"table","caption":"Year-end values","columns":["Year","ECB main refinancing rate","ECB deposit facility rate","€STR (euro short-term rate)"],"rows":[["2026","2.65","2.50","2.44"],["2025","2.15","2.00","1.92"],["2024","3.15","3.00","2.91"],["2023","4.50","4.00","3.88"],["2022","2.50","2.00","1.89"],["2021","0.00","-0.50","-0.59"],["2020","0.00","-0.50","-0.58"],["2019","0.00","-0.50","-0.53"],["2018","0.00","-0.40","–"],["2017","0.00","-0.40","–"],["2016","0.00","-0.40","–"],["2015","0.05","-0.30","–"],["2014","0.05","-0.20","–"],["2013","0.25","0.00","–"],["2012","0.75","0.00","–"],["2011","1.00","0.25","–"],["2010","1.00","0.25","–"],["2009","1.00","0.25","–"],["2008","2.50","2.00","–"],["2000","4.25","3.75","–"],["1999","3.00","2.00","–"]]},{"type":"heading","level":2,"text":"Relationship With Equity Markets"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Correlation of changes, not of levels. Two series that both trend for years correlate almost perfectly in levels without any relationship following from it. Values near 0 mean no discernible co-movement."},{"type":"table","caption":"Correlations","columns":["Series","Strongest relationships"],"rows":[["€STR (euro short-term rate)","DAX -0.03 n=572 · MSCI Japan +0.03 n=556 · Gold +0.03 n=946 Based on daily changes"]]},{"type":"heading","level":2,"text":"Real Interest Rate in the Euro Area"},{"type":"image","alt":"Real rate 2026-09: -1.30%"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"January 2015 September 2026"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Subtracting the inflation rate from the policy rate leaves the real interest rate: what a deposit earning the policy rate still yields after price increases. In September 2026 the ECB deposit rate stood at 2.50% and the euro area inflation rate (HICP) at 3.80%, putting the real rate at -1.30%. Since January 2015 it was negative in 113 of 141 months. It hit its low of -9.85% in October 2022 and its high of 1.80% in September 2024."},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Data note 2","href":"#dn-2"},{"type":"heading","level":2,"text":"Matching Calculators"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"These tools work with exactly these figures:"},{"type":"list","ordered":false,"items":[{"text":"ETF Savings Plan Calculator What a monthly ETF savings plan grows into: final value, amount paid in and compound …","href":"https://alysly.com/tools/savings-plan/"},{"text":"ETF vs Fixed Deposit A safe fixed deposit or a broadly diversified ETF? Compare the final value over your …","href":"https://alysly.com/tools/etf-vs-festgeld/"},{"text":"Loan Interest Calculator How much interest does a loan cost in total? Enter amount, rate and term for monthly …","href":"https://alysly.com/tools/kredit/"}]},{"type":"heading","level":2,"text":"More Rate and Economy Series"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Inflation in Germany and the Euro Area German Mortgage Rates German Savings Rates Government Bond Yields US Rates and Economy Labor Market: Germany and the US","links":[{"text":"Inflation in Germany and the Euro Area","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/inflation/"},{"text":"German Mortgage Rates","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/mortgage-rates/"},{"text":"German Savings Rates","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/savings-rates/"},{"text":"Government Bond Yields","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/bond-yields/"},{"text":"US Rates and Economy","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/us-rates/"},{"text":"Labor Market: Germany and the US","href":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/labor-market/"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Updated Oct 31, 2026"},{"type":"heading","level":2,"id":"note-legend-h","text":"Data Notes"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"How the figures on this page are produced and how current they are. All calculations run automatically and are not investment advice."},{"type":"list","ordered":true,"items":[{"id":"dn-1","text":"Official time series, taken unchanged; the change column is the gap to the previous value."},{"id":"dn-2","text":"Policy rate at month end minus the same month's inflation rate (year over year), since January 2015."}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Data and methodology: Alysly · Responsible for content: Alexander Bock","links":[{"text":"Alysly","href":"https://alysly.com/methodology/"},{"text":"Alexander Bock","href":"https://alysly.com/about/"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"View all data notes","href":"https://alysly.com/notes/"}],"structured_data":[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://alysly.com/#org","name":"Alysly","url":"https://alysly.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://alysly.com/img/icon-512.png","width":512,"height":512},"description":"Data-driven insights, transparent analysis and powerful tools for long-term investors.","email":"mail@alysly.com","contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","email":"mail@alysly.com","availableLanguage":["de","en"]},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Haltern am See","postalCode":"45721","addressCountry":"DE"},"founder":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/#founder"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/alyslycom/","https://www.youtube.com/@alyslycom","https://x.com/alyslycom"],"publishingPrinciples":"https://alysly.com/methodology/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://alysly.com/#founder","name":"Alexander Bock","jobTitle":"Founder and data analyst","url":"https://alysly.com/about/","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/abxk/"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://alysly.com/#site","url":"https://alysly.com/","name":"Alysly","alternateName":"Alysly Investment Analysis","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/#org"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://alysly.com/markets/stocks/browse/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/#webpage","url":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/","name":"ECB Policy Rate – Alysly","description":"Current ECB main refinancing rate, deposit facility rate and €STR with full history since 1999 — plus what rate moves mean for deposits, bonds and equities.","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/#site"},"dateModified":"2026-10-31T00:00:00Z","publisher":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/#org"},"mainEntity":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/#entity"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://alysly.com/og.png","width":1200,"height":630}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Rates & inflation","item":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECB Policy Rate"}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Dataset","@id":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/#entity","name":"ECB main refinancing rate","description":"Current ECB main refinancing rate, deposit facility rate and €STR with full history since 1999 — plus what rate moves mean for deposits, bonds and equities.","url":"https://alysly.com/interest-rates/ecb-policy-rate/","inLanguage":"en-US","license":"© Europäische Zentralbank, freie Weiterverwendung mit Quellenangabe","creator":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ECB","url":"https://data.ecb.europa.eu/data/datasets/FM"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://alysly.com/#org"},"isAccessibleForFree":true,"temporalCoverage":"1999-01-01/2026-10-31","dateModified":"2026-10-31","measurementTechnique":"Official statistics","variableMeasured":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"ECB main refinancing rate","unitText":"%","value":2.65,"measurementTechnique":"ECB"}}],"notice":"© 2026 Alysly.com. Not investment advice. All data without guarantee. Financial information is analyzed and presented partly with AI assistance."}