European Central Bank keeps interest rates constant

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, the bank announced on Thursday.

Interest rates on main refinancing operations, marginal lending and deposit facility stand at 0.00%, 0.25%, and -0.50%, respectively, according to a statement by the bank.

It also said: "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."

The bank will continue purchasing activities under COVID-19 conditions via the pandemic emergency purchase program, which will continue till March at least, with a total envelope of €1.85 billion ($2.25 billion).

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