The European Central Bank has cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 3.5 per cent in response to falling Eurozone inflation and signs that the bloc’s economy risks grinding to a halt.
ECB president Christine Lagarde said Thursday’s decision to lower the benchmark deposit rate for the second time this year was “unanimously decided” — unlike the previous cut in June, when Austria’s central bank head Robert Holzmann dissented.
Major central banks are now lowering rates in response to indications that the biggest rise in inflation for a generation has faded, with the US Federal Reserve expected to start cutting borrowing costs next week.