Noting the increased level of stress in Europe and signs of flagging growth, the E.C.B. promised to continue providing banks with effectively unlimited low-interest loans at least through the end of the year. Banks will be able to borrow as much as they want, provided they supply collateral.
While most analysts had not expected the E.C.B. to cut rates at its monthly meeting Wednesday, there was growing speculation that the governing council might cut below 1 percent for the first time in an attempt to restore confidence in the euro zone.
The bank and its president, Mario Draghi, appear to have decided to wait at least another month so as not to encourage complacency by political leaders. Mr. Draghi and other top E.C.B. officials have repeatedly stressed they lack the tools or the mandate to address the underlying problems in the euro-zone economy and the banking system.
This article was interesting to me because it addresses a subject that had fallen out of the news for some time but had still worried about it. It is still important to keep a pulse of the ever deteriorating economy in Europe because whatever happens there will also affect what happens in America. We are all connected in this global economy. The prospect of the E.U. becoming a more unitary power and each individual state in the E.U. losing more of their own identity is an interesting sitiuation to watch play out and its results will be equally interesting.
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