diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-25-17-25-36.gh-issue-145228.bM5lo-.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-25-17-25-36.gh-issue-145228.bM5lo-.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..c6898807a88c9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-25-17-25-36.gh-issue-145228.bM5lo-.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+The function ``_config_dict_get_bool()`` in :file:`Python/interpconfig.c` has been optimized to avoid unnecessary reference count decrements on boolean results.
+Patch by Benedikt Johannes.
diff --git a/Python/interpconfig.c b/Python/interpconfig.c
index 1add8a81425b9a..89fcdb1a2c0912 100644
--- a/Python/interpconfig.c
+++ b/Python/interpconfig.c
@@ -115,7 +115,6 @@ _config_dict_get_bool(PyObject *dict, const char *name, int *p_flag)
         config_dict_invalid_type(name);
         return -1;
     }
-    Py_DECREF(item);
     *p_flag = flag;
     return 0;
 }