The European Central Bank left its key interest rate and forward guidance unchanged on Thursday. The Governing Council left its key interest rates unchanged as expected. The main refinancing rate thus remains at zero, the deposit rate at -0.50 percent and the marginal lending rate at 0.25 percent. The bank expects the key ECB interest rates "to remain at their present or lower levels until it sees inflation reaching 2 percent... that realized progress in underlying inflation is sufficiently advanced to be consistent with inflation stabilizing at 2 percent over the medium term."
As announced in December, the bank said it will discontinue purchasing assets under its Covid-19 pandemic stimulus scheme at the end of March.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.