The ECB president was speaking at a financial education event organised by the Osservatorio for Independent Thinking. Reuters and askanews reported that she stressed the difficulty of calibrating monetary policy when energy costs raise prices while weighing on activity.
The next revision of economic projections is due in December. Lagarde recalled that the Governing Council had unanimously chosen to keep rates unchanged at its last meeting after discussing an increase.
Her remarks leave a rise open as an option without making it certain. The deposit rate remains at 2.5%, the latest level cited by Reuters.