Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, checked out prices at Ljubljana central market while visiting Slovenia on a courtesy visit ahead of the ECB Governing Council meeting at Brdo estate on 17 October.

Lagarde walked through the centre of Ljubljana accompanied by Bank of Slovenia Governor Boštjan Vasle before she is due to meet Prime Minister Robert Golob later on 15 October.

The ECB Governing Council has a meeting outside Frankfurt every year and they are happy to be hosted by Slovenia this time, Lagarde told the press at Ljubljana central market.

She came to the market "because it shows the fabrics of a country, it shows the local production and I always look at prices. That tells me a lot about how the situation is going," she said.

This was her third visit to the Ljubljana central market in the past four or five years. She checked the prices of a few products such as avocados, finding "they are in the same range of prices as elsewhere in Europe".

She did not manage to see the prices of local produce because being early the prices had not been put up yet. "But I'm sure that given the quality of the products, which is amazing, the prices will be reasonable. Because inflation has come down, a lot," she said.

Vasle said Bank of Slovenia was honoured to have the privilege to host Lagarde and other senior guests.

"We have important discussions ahead about our next steps and important decisions to take. Our decision will certainly make headlines globally, but it will also have major implications for our citizens. Some are saving, others are borrowing, and some are investing. What we decide on Thursday will be important for everyone," he said.

The ECB Governing Council is expected to cut the key interest rate at its meeting in Brdo pri Kranju. If it does decide for a cut, it will be the second in a row and the third in a series after a prolonged period of high interest rates as one of the measures to fight high inflation.

The deposit facility rate, at which banks deposit funds with euro area central banks and which is now the benchmark for monetary policy, was cut by 0.25 percentage points to 3.50% by the ECB Governing Council in September, with a further cut in euro central rates. Previously, in June, it had cut all central interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.