European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said the euro-area economy is resilient and confirmed that the central bank is preparing a digital euro, in remarks delivered at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings on Saturday.

Addressing price pressures, Lagarde said September's 3.8% euro-area inflation rate largely reflected high energy costs, which the ECB expects to ease next year.

She added that while an energy shock is expected to keep euro-area inflation above the bank's target through the first half of 2027, a measured policy response remains appropriate, according to a statement published by the ECB.

Lagarde also confirmed that the ECB is devising a digital euro — the planned digital counterpart to cash for everyday payments. As a form of central bank digital currency (CBDC), the project would put publicly issued money into daily digital use, running alongside physical cash rather than replacing it. “In the retail space we are to complement cash with its digital equivalent — the digital euro — for day-to-day payments,” she said. “The digital euro will further stimulate innovation and competition in retail payments, ensuring that the continued co-existence of public and private solutions underpins Europe’s strategic autonomy in payments.”

The remarks follow a Sept. 21 Cointelegraph report that the ECB had launched Pontes, a system that allows financial institutions to settle wholesale tokenized asset transactions in central bank money. The settlement system provides an alternative to private settlement assets such as stablecoins, initially offering a core set of services, with full implementation expected by 2028. Taken together, the two initiatives show the ECB building payment infrastructure at both ends of the market — wholesale settlement for institutions and retail payments for the public.

The ECB has also said that the digital euro app will exceed EU accessibility standards.

Source: Cointelegraph