[*Economic emergency] ECB cuts interest rates for 2 consecutive years...Deposit rate 3.50% → 3.25%

The European Central Bank, the ECB have cut policy rates for the second consecutive time since last month.

The ECB held a monetary policy board meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the 17th local time and said it had lowered its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, from 3.65% to 3.40% per annum and from 3.50% to 3.25% per annum.

The marginal loan rate was also reduced from 3.90% to 3.65% per year.

It is the first time in 13 years that the ECB has lowered interest rates in a row, Reuters said.

The ECB changed monetary policy in June for the first time in a year and 11 months, cutting all three policy rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

Initially, the market forecast that the ECB would cut interest rates once every quarter by the end of next year.

Since then, however, interest rate cuts have accelerated as euro zone inflation has picked up faster than expected and fears of a contraction in the economy have grown.

The euro zone September consumer price growth announced today was 1.7%, lower from a preliminary 1.8%.

It is the first time in three years and five months that euro zone inflation has fallen below the monetary authority target of 2.0% since April 2021.