The European Central Bank chief, Mario Draghi said today that interest rates will stay at record lows for an extended period and they could well be cut further.
The ECB rate was kept at 0.5% today and afterwards Draghi said “The Governing Council expects the key ECB rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time,”
He also said that the council had discussed cutting rates but decided against it .
The ECB may also consider cutting the deposit rate on bank deposits at the ECB to less than zero – to try and encourage more lending by banks.
The Euro was worth 0.857082 GBP this afternoon after a slight jump in value soon after the interest rate news was announced. The value had fallen in advance of the ECB announcement.