ECB signals interest rate stability

EUROZONE interest rates will stay lower for longer, the latest comments from the European Central Bank (ECB) indicate.

IIB Bank chief economist Austin Hughes says ECB president Jean Claude Trichet’s comments yesterday intended to signal no change in interest rates for some considerable time.

“We still see a rate hike before end of the year but the tone of ECB comments is consistent with no move until 2006,” he said.