"The task of the European Central Bank is price stability," said Lagarde on Wednesday after a meeting with Mayor Peter Tschentscher in Hamburg City Hall.
In order to guarantee this, the ECB decided, among other things, to let the multi-billion dollar bond purchases expire more quickly - "with a high degree of probability early in the third quarter, probably in July," she said.
That is the time to “look at interest rates and an increase in interest rates”.
The decision will be made by the Governing Council based on the data that should be available by the next Council meeting in June.
"It is our duty and our mandate to ensure that price stability is indeed maintained," assured Lagarde.
In view of the raw material and energy prices exploding as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the costs of the sanctions for the economy, the Hamburg Institute for International Economics (HWWI) warned of a deep recession last week.
HWWI Director Michael Berlemann appealed to the ECB to reconsider "its ultra-loose monetary policy" in order to prevent a threatening wage-price spiral.
Before her meeting with Tschentscher, Lagarde found out about initiatives to support the EU's climate policy goals and the effects of the currently strained supply chains at the container terminal of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) in Altenwerder.
For her, it was an important moment "to be in touch with the real economy" and not to be limited to financial relationships.
In the port, she was able to see "how trade is handled, how bottlenecks affect trade relationships, how costs and price developments affect business," said Lagarde.
"I really learned a lot."
Lagarde was very interested in the port, "which is of great importance for Germany and for Europe as a whole," said Tschentscher, when the head of the ECB signed the city's golden book as a "special guest of honor" in the town hall.