The European Central Bank has decided to keep its key refinancing rate unchanged at a record low 1 percent, the regulator said on Thursday.
“At today’s meeting, which was held in Barcelona, 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 1.00 percent, 1.75 percent and 0.25 percent respectively,” the statement said.
The last time the ECB cut the refinancing rate was in December 2001, when the regulator lowered the rate by a quarter percentage point to a historic low of 1 percent in a bid to stimulate bank lending and spur economic growth.
Since the rate cut, the European Central Bank has injected a total of 1 trillion euro liquidity in the eurozone banking sector to boost demand for riskier assets, especially equities and peripheral European bonds, and help the governments of heavily-indebted eurozone countries to service their sovereign debts.