ECB's Orphanides Sees Room to Lower Rates, Extend Non-Conventional Measures

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | March 23 2009 4:25 PM

(CEP News) Frankfurt - The European Central Bank has room to lower its key policy rate, ECB Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said.

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Monitoring the economy of the euro zone, we unfortunately observe a general worsening of the situation and there is room for a further reduction in interest rates, Orphanides said at a press conference on Monday.

Orphanides also said that there was room to extend the use of other unconventional tools, including the provision of liquidity at low rates. This could be continued beyond 2009, the central banker said. These sort of measures could be extended.

Written by CEP News European Staff, eunews@economicnews.ca, edited by Ernest Hoffman, ehoffman@economicnews.ca

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