European Central Bank holds key interest rates stable

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday decided to keep interest rates stable, reiterating its stance on holding historically low rates until eurozone inflation reaches a 2% target.

Interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50%, respectively, according to a statement by the ECB's Governing Council.

On Nov. 1, net purchases were restarted under the Governing Council’s asset purchase program at a monthly pace of €20 billion ($22.2 billion), it said.

"The Governing Council expects them to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates, and to end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates," it noted.