In the Eurozone there are several interest rates which are set by the ECB.
The rate that most people in Ireland on tracker mortgages are interested in is called the main refinancing rate .
This rate was reduced to an all-time low of 0.0% in March 2016
The refinancing rate is the rate at which the ECB lends money to commercial financial institutions like banks. It is this rate that determines the rate charged on “tracker mortgages” which first appeared in Ireland around 2001 – but have not been available in Ireland since 2008.
Here are the historic figures showing the ECB interest rates since 2003
| Date | Rate % |
| 2003 7 Mar | 2.50 |
| 2003 6 Jun | 2.00 |
| 2005 6 Dec. | 2.25 |
| 2006 8 Mar. | 2.50 |
| 2006 15 Jun. | 2.75 |
| 2006 9 Aug. | 3.00 |
| 2006 11 Oct. | 3.25 |
| 2006 13 Dec. | 3.50 |
| 2007 14 Mar. | 3.75 |
| 2007 13 Jun. | 4.00 |
| 2008 9 Jul. | 4.25 |
| 2008 15 Oct. | 3.75 |
| 2008 12 Nov. | 3.25 |
| 2008 10 Dec. | 2.50 |
| 2009 21 Jan. | 2.00 |
| 2009 11 Mar. | 1.50 |
| 2009 8 Apr | 1.25 |
| 2009 13 May. | 1.00 |
| 2011 15 Apr | 1.25 |
| 2011 15 July | 1.50 |
| 2011 9 Nov | 1.25 |
| 2011 9 Dec | 1.00 |
| 2012 9 July | 0.75 |
| 2013 8 May | 0.50 |
| 2013 Nov | 0.25 |
| 2014 Jun | 0.15 |
| 2014 Sept | 0.05 |
| 2016 March onwards …. | 0.0 |
You can see the latest Mortgage Interest Rates in Ireland here.