Eurozone interest rates remain at 0.75%

18:58, 8 November 2012

LONDON. November 8. KAZINFORM The European Central Bank (ECB) has held the benchmark eurozone interest rate at the record low of 0.75%, as had been expected.

The rate has been at this level for four months, after July's cut from 1%.

Earlier on Thursday, the Bank of England also kept its main interest rate unchanged, leaving it at 0.5%.

In September, the ECB announced a bond-buying programme to try to ease the financial woes of a number of member states, BBC informs.

Under the initiative, called outright monetary transactions or OMTs, the ECB will buy a country's government bonds after the administration in question has made a formal request.

While no eurozone nation has so far done so, the scheme has already been viewed as an effective insurance policy. This has eased the pressure on the bond yields of Spain and other indebted nations.

Investor attention will now turn to the news conference due to be given shortly by ECB President Mario Draghi.

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