The European Central Bank decided, in its meeting moments ago today, Thursday, April 14, to keep the current zero interest rates unchanged, as expected, as it announced that it would end the asset purchase program during the third quarter of this year.
The bank’s interest statement stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing enormous suffering to the European economy, raising uncertainty for companies and institutions, and causing higher energy and commodity prices. April, 30 billion euros in May and 20 billion euros in June, and the net purchase program will end in the third quarter.
The bank confirmed that any adjustments to the bank’s main interest rates will occur after some time has passed since the end of the bank’s net purchases and will be gradual.
The European Central Bank did not come up with anything new compared to its previous meeting and did not open the door or hint at any hike in interest rates soon and before ending the asset purchase program, and the euro fell against the US dollar by more than
40 points, to trade now at 1.0870 levels, less than an hour before the press conference of Bank President Christine Lagarde .