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European Central Bank keeps benchmark interest rate unchanged

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday it would keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at zero.

The inflation rate of the eurozone slipped back to 1.5 percent from 2 percent in March due to the slowing increase of oil prices, according to figures released by the European Union's (EU) statistics agency Eurostat.

The ECB's primary task is to maintain stable prices in the eurozone, and to keep the inflation rate "close to but under 2 percent."

While risks "remain tilted to the downside," as it was noted in a meeting last week, ECB president Mario Draghi stressed the necessity of maintaining current monetary policy.

To stimulate economic recovery in the eurozone, the ECB has prolonged its bond-buying stimulus scheme to the end of this year. The central bank is set to proceed with monthly bond purchases of 60 billion euros (65 billion U.S. dollars), trimmed from a previous 80 billion euros. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit