ECB Leaves Stimulus Unchanged as Draghi Gauges Brexit Effect

The European Central Bank kept its stimulus program unchanged as policy makers try to assess the economic damage inflicted by the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.

Officials left the main refinancing rate at zero, the deposit rate at minus 0.4 percent and asset purchases at 80 billion euros ($88 billion) a month as predicted in a Bloomberg survey. Britain’s decision to split from its main trading partner will loom large as President Mario Draghi addresses reporters at 2:30 p.m. in Frankfurt.

“The Governing Council continues to expect the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases,” the ECB said in a statement on Thursday. The central bank “confirms that the monthly asset purchases of 80 billion euros are intended to run until the end of March 2017, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until it sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim.”

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.