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Article: European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- June 5, 2003
- Author:
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Dateline: bFRANKFURT, Germany
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The European Central Bank on Thursday slashed interest rates to their
lowest level since World War II in an attempt to get the continent'
s stagnant economy moving, and the bank's president said it had room
to go lower.
ECB head Wim Duisenberg said Thursday's half-point reduction in a
key refinancing rate to 2 percent left interest rates at a level no
euro-zone country has seen since World War II.
"They are historically low," he said.
The rate had been 2.5 percent since a quarter-point cut March 6 that
many decried as too timid.
With the bolder half-point cut, the ECB drew closer to the more aggressive
U.S. ...