Amid hopes of an early economic turnaround, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) today left the key rates unchanged even as unemployment continues to rise in the region.
The ECB has kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 1 per cent while the BoE has retained the rate at 0.5 per cent.
"The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 1 per cent, 1.75 per cent and 0.25 per cent respectively," the ECB said in a statement. The rates of ECB are applicable to the 16-nation euro zone, which share the common currency euro.
In a separate statement, BoE said the official bank rate would be unchanged at 0.5 per cent.
"The official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 per cent," BoE noted.
The UK's apex bank would continue with its programme of purchasing assets worth 125 billion pounds, which would be financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. The BoE had said it would pump in 50 billion pounds to bolster UK's battered economy.