The European Central Bank left its interest rates and asset purchases unchanged on Thursday, as the resurgence of the coronavirus infections and continuing lockdowns have damped the prospects of an economic rebound later this year.
The Governing Council, led by ECB President Christine Lagarde, left key interest rates unchanged and maintained the size of the pandemic emergency purchase programme, or PEPP, at EUR 1,850 billion.
The main refi rate was held steady at a record low zero percent and the deposit rate was kept at -0.50 percent. The lending rate was held steady at 0.25 percent.
Policymakers retained the forward guidance on interest rates, saying it expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently "close to, but below, 2 percent".
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