ANKARA
The European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.05 percent on Thursday.
“At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05 percent, 0.30 percent and -0.20 percent respectively,” the ECB said.
In its previous meeting on October 2, the bank had left its main interest rates at 0.05 percent after it cut key rates to this level in September in order to stimulate the Eurozone economy, which is showing signs of deflationary risks.
Economists see deflation as a notable risk factor for the Eurozone economy since consumers expecting prices to fall might delay their expenditure in anticipation of cheaper prices and thus spend less, bringing the single-currency zone’s economy to a complete halt.
In October consumer prices in the Eurozone increased by 0.4 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than previous month. But this level is still much below the ECB’s target of 2 percent.
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