(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 17 apr - The European Central Bank said that its Governing Council decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.

Accordingly, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.25%, 2.40% and 2.65% respectively, with effect from April 23.

"The disinflation process is well on track. Inflation has continued to develop as staff expected, with both headline and core inflation declining in March," the central bank said.

"Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around the Governing Council's 2% medium-term target on a sustained basis," it added.

"The Governing Council is determined to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at its 2% medium-term target.

Especially in current conditions of exceptional uncertainty, it will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance. In particular, the Governing Council's interest rate decisions will be based on its assessment of the inflation outlook in light of the incoming economic and financial data, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. The Governing Council is not.

pre-committing to a particular rate path," it stated.

(RADIOCOR) 17-04-25 14:26:46 (0429) 5 NNNN