Interest rates

What is interest?

Interest is a fee for lending money. When you take out a loan from the bank to buy a house, you pay mortgage interest. And when a business purchases a new machine with a bank loan, it pays borrowing interest.

It also works the other way round: if you have a savings account, your bank pays you interest on your savings. You are lending your money to the bank, after all.

Interest is also known as the cost of money.

Who or what sets interest rates?

The market

It is the market that primarily determines how high or low interest rates are. More precisely, interest rates depend on the supply and demand for loans and savings. If savings are in great supply or if there is little demand for loans, interest rates are low. And if demand for loans increases, interest rates go up.

Interest rates, the cost of credit, move according to the law of supply and demand just like the cost of any other product. Take cardboard, for example. Demand has increased because we are doing more and more shopping online, and all those purchases are packed in cardboard for shipping. At the same time, supply has decreased due to the scarcity of paper. The result: the price of cardboard went up.

Central banks

Apart from the market, central banks also influence interest rates. In the euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) does so by setting what is known as the key policy rate. This interest rate determines the fee commercial banks pay when they borrow money from the ECB or from the central banks of euro area countries (this is called the refinancing rate). The key policy rate also determines the interest rate banks receive when they "deposit" money with the central bank (known as the deposit facility rate). The same key policy rate applies in all countries that use the euro, including the Netherlands.

Only banks are directly affected by the key policy rate, but its level also ultimately affects the interest rates paid by consumers and businesses. So the interest rate set by the ECB affects the savings rate you get, how "expensive" your mortgage is or the interest charges a business pays for a loan.

Generally, you pay a lot more interest than the key policy rate set by the ECB. With a mortgage, for example, the bank incorporates its costs into the interest rate and, of course, it wants to make some profit on the loan. The bank also charges a little extra in the form of a risk premium in case something goes wrong during the term and you can no longer repay the loan.

Development of interest rates and inflation and factors affecting both

Low interest rates, rising interest rates

Low interest rates until 2022

Interest rates in the years prior to 2022 were unusually low. For a while, banks paid little or no interest on savings; you even had to pay interest to your bank if you had a lot of money in your savings account.

The low interest rates were great for people and businesses looking to borrow money: mortgage rates, for example, were historically low. This meant that a homebuyer could borrow a larger amount at the same monthly cost.

The government could also borrow money cheaply to cover budget deficits. Pension funds, however, were not so lucky. The low interest rates meant that they had to set aside more money to secure pensions for the future.  

Why were interest rates so low? Savings are in great supply worldwide. This is partly due to an ageing population: older people tend to spend less and save a lot. Demand for business loans was also relatively low. The service sector grew, but companies in this sector invest less than in manufacturing, which needs factories and machinery.

And on top of all this, central banks kept their key policy rates low. This is because inflation was low in the years prior to 2022. Too low, according to the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB's policy calls for a medium-term inflation target of 2%. The ECB therefore kept key policy rates low in recent years to boost inflation towards the target.

This meant it was "cheap" to borrow money, allowing more money to circulate. And a bigger supply of money drives up inflation.

Interest rates rising since 2022 

A lot has changed since then: interest rates are rising again. If you have money in savings, you have probably heard from your bank that you are once again earning interest. Earning interest on savings is great, of course, but people looking to take out a new mortgage on a house will also notice that interest rates are a lot higher than in 2021. Higher interest rates make mortgages more expensive.

They also affect businesses, which have to spend more money to take out a loan. The government also faces higher interest charges on its loans. Pension funds, on the other hand, benefit from higher interest rates, which make it easier for them to continue paying pension benefits in the future.

That upswing in interest rates is again due both to the situation in financial markets and, above all, central bank policies.  

ECB lowered interest rate

In June 2024, the ECB decided to lower its interest rate by 0.25%. Previously, the central bank had raised its rate to 4% in 10 steps, starting in July 2022. The aim was to cool the economy in order to bring down the soaring inflation rate. Prices had skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and inflation was far above the ECB’s medium-term target of 2%. With this rate cut, the ECB is gently taking its foot off the brake, which will help boost economic growth.

Higher interest rates make money “more expensive”, making it less attractive to borrow and spend money, and encouraging saving instead. As a result, people and businesses spend less, causing the economy to slow down. And when demand slumps, prices stop rising. That way, the interest rate helps get inflation back to ideal levels. With inflation falling and expected to return to the 2% target soon, the ECB may decide to lower its interest rate again. Interest rate cuts do not have an immediate effect on prices and inflation, however. This takes some time.

Loan supply and demand and savings in financial markets also affect interest rates, and meanwhile the market is trying to predict economic growth and inflation, especially when it comes to long-term loans. What interest rate steps will central banks take next?

As soon as there is reason to readjust the key policy rate, the ECB will do so. Because as the central bank for the euro area, its mission is to keep prices stable.