ECB stays put on refi rate, interest rate corridor unchanged

The European Central Bank kept a steady hand on the tiller on Thursday, keeping all its main policy rates at their current settings.

Its main policy lever, the interest rate for its main refinancing operations was kept at 0.00%.

The so-called 'corridor' around the refi rate was also unchanged, with the charge on lenders' deposits still at -0.40% and the rate on the marginal lending facility at 0.25%.

"The Governing Council continues to expect the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases," the Frankfurt-based monetary authority said in a statement.

In the same statement, the Governing Council reiterated plans to continue conducting its asset purchase programme at a monthly pace of €80.0bn until the end of March, falling to €60.0bn from April to December 2017, as had been expected by economists.

If necessary, asset purchases under the APP would be extended until the GC sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation mandate, the ECB said.

Also as expected, the ECB reiterated it was willing to increase or extend its APP programme should the outlook for meeting its mandate become less favourable.

Draghi's press conference was scheduled to start at 1330 GMT.

By way of an immediate reaction, as of 1245 GMT euro/dollar was 0.13% higher at 1.0558.