In the Eurozone there are several interest rates which are set by the ECB.
The rate that most people in Ireland on tracker mortgages are interested in is called the main refinancing rate .
The refinancing rate is the rate at which the ECB lends money to commercial financial institutions like banks. It is this rate that determines the rate charged on “tracker mortgages” which first appeared in Ireland around 2001 – but have not been available in Ireland since 2008.
The “ECB ” rate is normally quoted as the “deposit rate” which is usually 0.5% lower than the main refinancing rate . The ECB deposit interest rate will rise to 4% on September 20th.
The ECB main refinancing rate will go up to 4.5 % on Sept 20th 2023 .
This rate was reduced to an all-time low of 0.0% back in March 2016.
The ECB eventually increased the rate to 0.5% from 27th July 2022.
And on Sept 8th – a further increase of 0.75% was announced – this came into effect from Sep 22nd. The new ECB rate was 1.25%
From November 2nd 2022 – the ECB interest rate rose again to 2%
There were 3 more ECB rate increases – one on 21st December 2022 to 2.5% and another increase to 3% on Feb 8th 2023 . In March it was increased to 3.5%
The ECB rate rose to 4.25% on August 2nd 2023 and will be increased to 4.5% on Sep 20th 2023.
It hasn’t been this high since 2000 .
Here is The ECB Interest Rate History since 2003
(Rate shown is the “refinancing operations” – this rate is usually 0.5% higher than the “deposit” rate.)
| Date | Interest Rate % |
| 2003 7 Mar | 2.50 |
| 2003 6 Jun | 2.00 |
| 2005 6 Dec. | 2.25 |
| 2006 8 Mar. | 2.50 |
| 2006 15 Jun. | 2.75 |
| 2006 9 Aug. | 3.00 |
| 2006 11 Oct. | 3.25 |
| 2006 13 Dec. | 3.50 |
| 2007 14 Mar. | 3.75 |
| 2007 13 Jun. | 4.00 |
| 2008 9 Jul. | 4.25 |
| 2008 15 Oct. | 3.75 |
| 2008 12 Nov. | 3.25 |
| 2008 10 Dec. | 2.50 |
| 2009 21 Jan. | 2.00 |
| 2009 11 Mar. | 1.50 |
| 2009 8 Apr | 1.25 |
| 2009 13 May. | 1.00 |
| 2011 15 Apr | 1.25 |
| 2011 15 July | 1.50 |
| 2011 9 Nov | 1.25 |
| 2011 9 Dec | 1.00 |
| 2012 9 July | 0.75 |
| 2013 8 May | 0.50 |
| 2013 Nov | 0.25 |
| 2014 Jun | 0.15 |
| 2014 Sept | 0.05 |
| 2016 March | 0.00 |
| 2022 July | 0.5 |
| 2022 Sept | 1.25 |
| 2022 Nov | 2.00 |
| 2022 Dec | 2.50 |
| 2023 Feb | 3.00 |
| 2023 March | 3.50 |
| 2023 May | 3.75 |
| 2023 June | 4.00 |
| 2023 Aug | 4.25 |
| 2023 Sept | 4.50 |
You can see the latest Mortgage Interest Rates in Ireland here.
See Euro Sterling Historical rates