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Central bank rates

The “cost of money” set by the ECB and the Federal Reserve

20.7-2.10196619781990200220142026
Hover the chart for values at a date.
Source: BCE + Federal Reserve (FRED). Monthly historical series. Past values don’t predict future ones.

What it is, in plain words

Central banks set the base “cost of money”: the rate at which commercial banks fund themselves with them. It is the main lever they use to steer inflation and growth. Here you’ll find the European Central Bank’s deposit and main refinancing rates (euro area) and the Federal Reserve’s policy rate (United States). When these rates rise, most other things tend to rise too — Euribor, mortgage instalments, bond yields; when they fall, the opposite. They are the compass for where the cost of money is heading.

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