European Central Bank keeps interest rates constant

Central bank expected to retain the same purchasing terms which applied during the COVID-19 pandemic

The European Central Bank announced on Thursday that it would be keeping interest rates unchanged.

According to the statement released by the bank, interest rates that apply to main refinancing operations, marginal lending and deposit facility will remain at 0.00%, 0.25%, and -0.50%, respectively.

Explaining the decision further, the statement also indicated that “the Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics.”

“Third, net purchases under the asset purchase programme will continue at a monthly pace of €20 billion,” it added.

This means that the bank will continue purchasing activities under COVID-19 conditions via the pandemic emergency purchase program, which is expected to continue at least until March, with a total envelope of €1.85 billion ($2.25 billion).