european central bank president christine lagarde attends a debate during a plenary session at the european parliament on february 14 2022 in strasbourg eastern france london the european central bank on thursday opted to keep interest rates steady remaining cautious as it assesses the economic fallout from russias invasion of ukraine the central banks benchmark refinancing rate remains at 0 the rate on its marginal lending facility sits at 025 and the rate on its deposit facility was kept at 05 no major policy decision from the central banks governing council was expected but market participants will be closely monitoring ecb president christine lagardes press conference at 130 pm london time for hints about europes growth prospects given the escalating crisis the euro was trading around 11097 shortly after the decision up 02 for the session the common currency rose 16 on wednesday to register its steepest daily jump in almost six years the ecbs meeting in frankfurt germany comes exactly two weeks after russian president vladimir putin launched a fullscale invasion of ukraine the conflict has rattled the global economy and sent shockwaves through financial markets with western allies imposing a barrage of sanctions against russia energy and commodity prices have soared as the kremlin steps up its onslaught on ukraine prompting concern among economists that the euro zone economy could face a stagflationary shock this refers to the toxic cocktail of sluggish economic growth and high inflation the ecb has much to contemplate up until now it has been the most sanguine of the central banks when it comes to tightening policy and with good reason but it is all change neil birrell chief investment officer at premier miton investors said in a note inflation will be rampant driven by energy and food prices soaring turbo charged by the conflict in ukraine it cant be left to run out of control but equally the ecb will be worried about acting in a way that makes growth roll over with stagflation being the outcome he added consumer prices in the 19 countries that use the euro currency have climbed to record highs for four consecutive months most recently hitting 58 in february the ecb is targeting 2 inflation over the medium term it is also feared the ukraine conflict could cause further problems for supply chains already disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic negatively impacting economic growth alongside soaring oil and gas prices a reuters poll in early march found the majority of economists expect the ecb to wait until the final few months of the year to raise interest rates however there is currently no consensus on the month that the central bank could bring an end to its asset purchase programme