ECB leaves interest rates without changes

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep interest rates at its current levels, the bank said. ECB decided that 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 percent, 0.25 percent and -0.40 percent respectively. At the same time, ECB extended assets purchase until the end of December. Until the end of September, it will be executed at the current level (€30 billion a month) and later at a reduced level of up to €15 billion a month. ECB council plans to keep interest rates unchanged at least until 2019, and as long as it is needed to ensure inflation approaching below but close to 2 percent in the medium term, it said.