ECB Cuts Interest Rate to a Record Low at -0.5%, Launching QE to Entail ฿20bn/Month

In the meeting on September 12, 2019, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced an interest rate cut to -0.5% along with a quantitative easing (QE) program to stimulate 20 billion euros per month of asset purchases.

ECB cuts deposit rate from -0.4% to a record low at -0.5% on Thursday and will restart bond purchases of 20 billion euros a month starting November for as long as it deems necessary.

The euro slipped immediately below $1.10 after the rate cut and the launching of QE from ECB.

 

“The Governing Council now expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics,” said ECB.

“They are trying, and succeeding, in depreciating the Euro against the VERY strong Dollar, hurting U.S. exports…. And the Fed sits, and sits, and sits. They get paid to borrow money, while we are paying interest!” Criticized the U.S. President Donald Trump via twitter.