ECB Main Refinancing Rate: Every Change Since 1999

What is the Main Refinancing Rate?

The Main Refinancing Operations (MRO) rate was historically the ECB’s headline policy rate — the equivalent of the Fed Funds Rate for the euro area. Reference release: the ECB’s official key interest rates. Banks submit bids for one-week central bank liquidity at this rate. For most of the ECB’s history, the MRO anchored money market rates. Further detail: the agenda of upcoming ECB meetings.

However, the massive expansion of excess liquidity through QE programs (APP, PEPP) and TLTROs fundamentally changed the monetary plumbing. With trillions of euros in excess reserves, banks no longer need to borrow from the ECB at the MRO rate — they park excess cash at the Deposit Facility instead. This is why the ECB formally shifted to the DFR as the primary operational rate in September 2023. Computed on the ECB Data Portal series for ECB Main Refinancing Operations Rate.

The new corridor framework

Since September 2024, the ECB narrowed its interest rate corridor: the MRO is now fixed at DFR + 15 bps (previously +50 bps), and the Marginal Lending Facility at DFR + 40 bps (previously +75 bps). This narrowing aims to reduce money market rate volatility as excess liquidity gradually declines through QT.

The MRO rate ranged from 0% (2016–2022) to 4.50% (Sep 2023). As of mid-2025, it stands at approximately 2.15%, tracking the DFR at a fixed 15 bps premium. Every move of that premium, and of the rate beneath it, has a Governing Council meeting behind it in the ECB decision register, 1999 to 2026.

CSV Data Dictionary

Python Code Example

import pandas as pd
from io import StringIO
import requests

url = "https://data-api.ecb.europa.eu/service/data/FM/B.U2.EUR.4F.KR.MRR_FR.LEV"
resp = requests.get(url, params={"format": "csvdata"})
raw = pd.read_csv(StringIO(resp.text))

df = raw[["TIME_PERIOD", "OBS_VALUE"]].copy()
df.columns = ["date", "mro_rate"]
df["date"] = pd.to_datetime(df["date"])
df = df.sort_values("date").set_index("date")

df.plot(title="ECB Main Refinancing Rate", figsize=(12, 5))

Related ECB Datasets

Source & Methodology

Source: European Central Bank — Key Interest Rates

Series key: FM/B.U2.EUR.4F.KR.MRR_FR.LEV

License: ECB open data — free reuse with attribution.

Cite This Dataset

Eco3min Research. (2026). ECB Main Refinancing Operations Rate (1999–2026). Source: ECB. https://eco3min.fr/en/ecb-main-refinancing-rate-dataset/