The European Central Bank may cut interest rates again at Thursday's governing council meeting in Vienna, economists said.
The ECB cut rates on September 17th as part of a concerted response by central banks to the previous week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and economists expect it to ease rates again as the ECB takes stock of the impact of the attacks on growth prospects.
But it is not clear that the ECB is ready to follow up its September 17th rate cut with another easing move now, even though the US Federal Open Market Committee and the Bank of England both cut rates last week for the second time following the attacks, economists said.
The key minimum bid rate on the ECB's main refinancing operations currently stands at 3.75 per cent. A deteriorating growth outlook and fading inflation pressures will prompt the ECB to cut rates again, economists said.
AFP