FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank kept policy unchanged as expected, staying on track to end bond purchases this year and raise interest rates next autumn, even as protectionist moves around the globe drag on growth.
With inflation rebounding and growth levelling off at a relatively healthy pace, the ECB has been gently removing stimulus for months in the belief that a range of risks from protectionism to emerging market turbulence and Brexit will not be enough to derail a growth run now into its sixth year.
Making only a nuanced tweak to its policy stance, the ECB said it would halve its monthly bond purchases to 15 billion euros from October, firming up its previous language, which said only that such a move was anticipated. But it maintained its stance that bond buys are expected to end by the close of the year and that interest rates will stay unchanged at least through next summer. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
