MNI: ECB Leaves Rates Unch, Extends Guidance, Outlines TLTRO

     LONDON (MNI) - Below is the text release by the European Central Bank's

Governing Council 

     June 10 2019

     Monetary policy decisions

     ================================================================

     At today's meeting, which was held in Vilnius, the Governing Council of the

European Central Bank (ECB) took the following monetary policy decisions:

     (1) The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest

rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain

unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40% respectively. The Governing Council now

expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least

through the first half of 2020, and in any case for as long as necessary to

ensure the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are

below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.

     (2) The Governing Council intends to continue reinvesting, in full, the

principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the asset purchase

programme for an extended period of time past the date when it starts raising

the key ECB interest rates, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain

favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation.

     (3) Regarding the modalities of the new series of quarterly targeted

longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III), the Governing Council decided

that the interest rate in each operation will be set at a level that is 10 basis

points above the average rate applied in the Eurosystem's main refinancing

operations over the life of the respective TLTRO. For banks whose eligible net

lending exceeds a benchmark, the rate applied in TLTRO III will be lower and can

be as low as the average interest rate on the deposit facility prevailing over

the life of the operation plus 10 basis points.

     The President of the ECB will comment on the considerations underlying

these decisions at a press conference starting at 14:30 CET today.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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