October’s decision to keep the ECB’s key deposit rate unchanged at two percent was unanimous, the minutes said, and “members broadly agreed” with Chief Economist Philip Lane that inflation was under control.

“Most measures of longer-term inflation expectations continued to stand at around two percent,” the minutes said, while “the latest indicators suggested resilience in global economic activity”.

After two years of cutting rates, the ECB has left them unchanged at its past three meetings as inflation has fallen from a high of 10.6 percent in 2022 to settle around the central bank’s two-percent target.

But slowing wage growth and subdued eurozone growth weighing on inflation have led some observers to expect rate cuts in 2026 and the minutes said members discussed the need to be “entirely open-minded” on possible future cuts.

“While the economy was not so weak that it definitely implied an undershooting of the target over the medium term, it remained uncertain whether the economy had enough momentum to deliver the target,” the minutes said.

“The governing council was currently in a good place from a monetary policy point of view, though this should not be seen as a fixed place.”

The ECB’s governing council next meets to set rates on December 18 and the bank will publish new economic forecasts extending for the first time to 2028.