This was CNBC’s live coverage of the latest European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.
by Jenni Reid
CNBC.com
The European Central Bank on Thursday confirmed a widely anticipated reduction in interest rates at its meeting, despite lingering inflationary pressures in the 20-nation euro zone.
It takes the central bank’s key rate to 3.75%, down from a record 4% where it has been since September 2023.
″Based on an updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission, it is now appropriate to moderate the degree of monetary policy restriction after nine months of holding rates steady,” the ECB Governing Council said in a statement.
In updated macroeconomic projections that will be closely analyzed by investors, ECB staff raised their annual average headline inflation outlook for 2024 to 2.5% from 2.3% previously.