Brussels, 01/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the bi-monthly meeting of the Governing Council, held in Frankfurt on Thursday, the European Central Bank decided to maintain the leading rates unchanged. Its minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations and the interests rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility all remain unchanged at 4.75%, 5.75% and 3.75%, respectively. The ECB's decision comes despite the option taken by the American Federal Reserve to cut its cost of credit by one percentage point in a month.
At a press conference, ECB President Wim Duisenberg justified the status quo with two reasons: the sound health of the European economy and the inflationary risks in the euro zone, especially in relation to wages. For the ECB's Governing Council those factors that could cause a risk to medium-term price stability are always present. The rise in consumer prices reached 2.6% in December 2000, and, therefore, remains higher that the tolerance threshold of 2% set by the ECB. Even if the fall in the price of oil and a better performance by the euro have had certain effects on price developments, Wim Duisenberg considers that a return to below the 2% mark will "take a certain amount of time". In addition, he qualified growth as "robust"; according to his predictions, "it should be close to 3% for the years 2000-2001". Duisenberg nevertheless stressed that "uncertainties linked to the environment outside the euro zone have increased, and were, on the whole, "linked to the signal that the slowdown in growth in the United States could be greater than expected". Which could, according to him, have an impact on the exports of the euro zone. Wim Duienberg thus placed emphasis on the need to avoid pro-cyclical decisions and thus once again on deepening structural reforms that he sees as "the solemn sermon to attain a balanced budgetary situation or a small surplus in the medium-term". In response to the American monetary détente, he commented that the ECB took its decisions in relation to internal and external factors, while adding that the impact of what was happening outside remained limited, and that the Central Bank "has no targeted exchange rate objective".
Another ECB decision: guidelines for passing over to the euro
The governing Council, moreover, adopted ECB guidelines on Thursday on the passing over to the euro in 2002. According to ECB Vice-President, Christian Noyer, they will help familiarise citizens with the basic rules linked to the introduction of euro coins and banknotes. An Internet site devoted to the Euro 2002 information campaign (http: //http://www.euro.ecb.int ) has just been created (See another page for the lecture by European Commissioner Pedro Solbes on the introduction of the euro).