Brussels, 03/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 September, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept main interest rates in the Eurozone unchanged. At the end of the meeting he was chairing, Jean-Claude Trichet stressed that the Governing Council was “unanimous” in saying that the current rates were appropriate. The interest rate for major refinancing operations therefore remains at 1% and the marginal lending rate and deposit facility stood at 1.75% and 0.25% respectively. This decision reflects the quite positive developments affecting growth recently, combined with low inflationary pressure.
The president of the ECB affirmed that, “there are increasing signs of stabilisation in economic activity in the Euro area and elsewhere. This is consistent with the expectation that the significant contradiction in economic activity has come to an end and is now followed by a period of stabilisation and very gradual recovery”. This recovery is expected to be, “rather uneven, given the temporary nature of some of the supporting factors and the ongoing balance sheet correction in the financial and non-financial sectors of the economy”. According to the ECB services' latest forecasts, presented on Thursday, average annual real GDP growth will range between -4.4% and -3.8% in 2009 and between 0.5% and +0.9% in 2010. Compared to figures in June, this constitutes an upward revision of these bands for the two years on question.
Trichet explained that although inflation rates were expected to remain “in positive territory”, inflation expectations were expected to “remain firmly anchored” (following -07% in July, the fall in prices was 0.2% in August). ECB services are counting on rates of between +0.2% and +0.6% in 2009 and between +0.8% and +1.6% in 2010, which constitutes a slight upward revision compared to previous forecasts, but still comply with price stability objectives (below, but close to 2%). (A.B./trans/rh)