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novembro 04, 2004
ECB holds minimum bid "refi" rate steady at 2.00 pct
The European Central Bank held the minimum bid rate for its regular refinancing operations steady at 2.00 percent, a spokesman for the bank said.
The ECB has held the so-called refi rate at the same point since June 2003.
It also held its other two key rates -- the deposit rate and the marginal lending rate -- unchanged at 1.00 percent and 3.00 percent respectively.
The Bank of England also left interest rates unchanged on Thursday for a third successive month amid speculation that borrowing costs may remain at 4.75 percent well into next year as the economy cools.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet was scheduled to hold a press conference at 1330 GMT to explain the conditions that led to the decision to retain the rate at its current level for 17 consecutive months.
Analysts have said the bank would probably hold to its monetary policy line as a rising euro helps offset the negative economic effects of the hike in oil prices.
But at the same time, they said, the ECB will not want to let the euro rise to the point where it hinders exports and speculation is rising that it may soon intervene, at least verbally.
Just after the announcement, the euro held steady at 1.2866 to the US dollar, close to the record level of 1.2929 that it reached on February 18.
Experts said any rise above 1.30 euros to the dollar would probably force the bank to act.
In a poll this week of 31 economists by AFP and its financial news subsidiary AFX, all ECB watchers had unanimously forecast that the bank would hold rates steady.
According to economists, the ECB will only start raising rates once it is sure that the economic recovery in the eurozone is firmly established.
Despite this, the policy does appear to be at odds with the ECB's stance at the beginning of the year when the euro rose sharply against the dollar to levels not far above where it is now.
At the time the bank, the guardian of the euro, fretted openly about "excessive volatility" in exchange rates.
This time, it appears, the situation is different.
A strong euro helps cushion the effects of runaway oil prices, since oil is purchased in dollars, and it also helps control headline inflation at a time when area-wide consumer prices are rising much faster than the ECB would like.
The governor of the Bank of Greece, Nicholas Garganas, said last week that the rise of the euro was unlikely to hurt European exports and could help mitigate the effects of surging oil prices.
Publicado por esta às novembro 4, 2004 02:27 PM