The central bank of Europe known as the ECP has on Thursday kept their rates the same as they were after Christine Lagarde, the new president’s first meeting on monetary policy took place in Frankfurt.

There was a vote of the Governing Council for keeping the main rate of deposit at the low rate of -0.5 % which is historically low and has been in sync with the expectations of the market. The facility of marginal lending was still at 0.25%.

The statement of ECB is a reiteration that the rates are going to stay at a level which is same or are going to go lower until the ECB sees the outlook of inflation converge robustly to a level which is close to but not above 0.2% and also sees that the underlying inflation stays convergent consistently at the same level.

They have also confirmed that the net purchase of assets had begun in the month of November at a rate which was at $22.3 billion per month and this is going to continue to go on till it is necessary for the reinforcement of the stance of accommodative policies.

The trade had broadly been flat for the Euro as against dollar at a level of $1.1132 after the announcement in the equity markets had gone a little negative after the early trade saw marginal gains.

Lagarde has said that the slowdown in growth has been stabilizing however the data which has been coming in since the policy meeting in October has shown the muted pressures of inflation and the growth dynamics of the area being weak.

The risk to the growth outlook which is related to the factors of geopolitics and the protectionism that is rising in the area has made the markets tilt downwards.