ECB Cuts Interest Rates for Second Time in 2024

The European Central Bank decided today to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.50 percent, making its second reduction to the deposit rate this year after the worst wave of inflation in years prompted it to raise borrowing costs to unprecedented levels in 2023. The bank explained in a statement in this regard that the decline in inflation and the slowdown in economic growth allow for a little easing of monetary policy. The expected move comes after a period of slow economic growth in the eurozone and slowing inflation, which fell towards the central bank's 2 percent target in August. The ECB's decisions also come less than a week before widespread expectations that the US Federal Reserve will begin easing US monetary policy. Source: Qatar News Agency