The European Central Bank met for the first time under new president Mr Jean-Claude Trichet and kept interest rates steady as expected today.
The ECB policymaking council's decision to leave rates at near 50-year lows of 2 per cent reflects broadly stable inflation and growing signs that the economy is finally starting to revive after stagnating in the first half of the year.
The slow pace of the rebound means the ECB is not expected to start raising rates until the second half of next year, unlike the Bank of England, which today raised borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point to 3.75 per cent, its first rate rise in nearly four years.
Mr Trichet took the central bank's helm six days ago from its first president, Dutchman Mr Wim Duisenberg.
The ECB has said it expects growth to pick up gradually in the second half of this year and accelerate in 2004, with inflation next year falling below the ECB's 2 per cent ceiling and stabilising there.