European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday praised the Greek economy's return to pre-Covid levels.

In a news conference in Athens, after a meeting of EBC's board at the building of the Bank of Greece, Lagarde explained the reasons behind today's decision to keep interest rates unchanged, while she stressed: "The fact that we keep interest rates stable does not mean that we won't raise them ever again", adding that this would depend on the economic data.

Referring to the Greek economy and Greek state bonds in particular, the ECB's president noted that these were now eligible to participate in ECB's repurchase programs - which have been frozen - with the exception of the PEP programme in which Greek bonds participated already. The board meeting did not discuss the future of the program, she noted.