La European Central Bank , Bank of England they kept i unchanged reference ratesrespectively at 0,25 (historic low reached last month) and 0,5%. The decision is in line with market and analyst expectations.
Furthermore, in the Eurozone, the rates on marginal refinancing operations remain at 0,75% and those on deposits kept by the ECB on behalf of the banks at zero. Now the focus is on projections for inflation 2014 and 2015, so as to imagine what the monetary policy could be in the near future.
THEOECD recently warned that the dynamics of prices is currently far from the objectives and that the risk of deflation exists, but the number one of the Eurotower – Mario Draghi – has already dismissed these concerns several times, stating that the trend is under control.
For its part, the Bank of England confirmed the asset purchase program to £375 billion. Interest rates have remained unchanged in the UK since March 2009 and the BoE has indicated that the cost of borrowing will remain low at least until the unemployment rate falls below 7% (ie, according to estimates, in 2015).
Also today the British Office for Budget Responsibility has raised its GDP forecast for 2013 from +0,6% to +1,4% and for 2014 from +1,8% to +2,4%.
