ECB, rebuffing rate cut calls, offers no hint of move any time soon

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

FRANKFURT (AFP) — The European Central Bank sharply rebuffed calls for a reduction in eurozone interest rates, holding its key rates unchanged for the ninth month in a row and offering no hint of a move any time soon despite a sharp slowdown in area-wide inflation.

Shortly after the Bank of England left its rates unchanged, the ECB decided to hold its own central "refi" refinancing rate steady at 2.00 percent, where it has been since June 2003.

And the guardian of the euro also left its other two key rates -- the deposit rate and the marginal lending rate -- unchanged at 1.00 percent and 3.00 percent respectively.

No-one had been expecting the bank to announce any changes in eurozone borrowing costs this week, despite heavy pressure from European politicians...