European Central Bank cuts the main refinancing rate to 0.50% from 0.75% in the light of estimates

At today’s meeting, which was held in Bratislava, the Governing Council of the ECB took the following monetary policy decisions:

 1.The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 25 basis points to 0.50%, starting from the operation to be settled on 8 May 2013.

2.The interest rate on the marginal lending facility will be decreased by 50 basis points to 1.00%, with effect from 8 May 2013.

3. The interest rate on the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%.

The President of the ECB will comment on the considerations underlying these decisions at a press conference starting at 2.30 p.m. CET today.

Note that the three key interest rates for the euro area refers to:

■The interest rate on the main refinancing operations (MRO), which provide the bulk of liquidity to the banking system.

■The rate on the deposit facility, which banks may use to make overnight deposits with the Eurosystem.

■The rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks from the Eurosystem.