ECB Leaves Benchmark Interest Rate Unchanged

The European Central Bank left benchmark rate unchanged at zero percent.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank left interest rate on the main refinancing operations, interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and -0.40 percent respectively.

The council expects the key rates to remain unchanged or even lower for a while, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases.

The European Central Bank confirms that the monthly asset purchases of €80 billion ($72.6 billion) will run up until the end of March 2017, or beyond, if there is no sustained improvement in consumer prices.

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank will comment on the modalities underlying these decisions at a press conference later today.