ECB cuts interest rates to support flagging eurozone economy

18 Oct 2024

The European Central Bank (ECB) reduced its interest rates on Thursday afternoon during its October meeting, marking the third consecutive cut since June.

New interest rates have been set at 3.40% for main refinancing operations, 3.65% for the marginal lending facility, and 3.25% for the deposit facility.

The interest rate on main refinancing operations is the rate banks pay when they borrow money from the ECB for one week, while the marginal lending facility rate is the cost banks pay when they need to borrow money from the central bank overnight.

The deposit facility rate, meanwhile, is the interest rate banks receive when they deposit money with the ECB overnight.

"The Governing Council today decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. In particular, the decision to lower the deposit facility rate – the rate through which the Governing Council steers the monetary policy stance – is based on its updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission," the ECB said in a statement.

"The incoming information on inflation shows that the disinflationary process is well on track. The inflation outlook is also affected by recent downside surprises in indicators of economic activity. Meanwhile, financing conditions remain restrictive," it added.