ECB cuts interest rate to 2%
16-01-2009
The European Central Bank has cut its benchmark interest rate half a percentage point to 2 percent - its fourth successive reduction. But the ECB indicated it would pause in February. The cut, which was widely expected, matched the bank's lowest rate in its 10-year history, but it still lags the almost-zero percent borrowing costs in the US and Japan. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the euro zone economy was looking weaker than the bank had thought just a month ago.
