European Central Bank Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged

Frankfurt (May 8)  The ECB’s governing council 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 steady at 0.25%, 0.75% and 0.00%, respectively.

Ahead of the monetary policy announcement, analysts said they expected the central bank to stand pat while it waits for new staff forecasts next month.

Nevertheless, there are ideas that the ECB might eventually trim rates if inflation remains soft or the euro becomes too muscular. Eurozone interest rates have not changed since November.

ECB President Mario Draghi is scheduled to hold his monthly news conference at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Annual inflation remains well below the ECB’s medium-term target of close to 2%. Eurostat’s most recent report showed that consumer prices rose by 0.7% year-on-year in April, up from a 52-month low of 0.5% in March.