Fresh rate cuts not excluded said ECB

(ANSA) - Rome, April 7 - The European Central Bank's governing council, at a meeting last month where it launched a string of anti-deflation measures, did not rule out further interest rate cuts in future, which may be necessary in the event of economic shocks, according to the minutes of the March 10 meeting made public Thursday. Another mooted measure was to exempt some banks from the negative deposit rates, but it was eventually decided that this was not necessary.
    The ECB on March 10 cut its refinancing rate to a historic low of 0% and expanded its quantitative easing (QE) or massive bond-buying programme.
    The new package of six monetary stimulus measures aimed "to further ease financial conditions, stimulate credit, and strengthen" the recovery, ECB President Mario Draghi said.
    In the new package of four Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs), Draghi said, the more banks lend the lower the rate will be, starting from the zero of the main refinancing rate.
    The ECB raised the purchase limit of each individual bond issue in its QE programme from 35% to 50%, he added.
    The ECB expects rates to remain at their current record lows "for a long time, well beyond the time frame of the (QE) purchases" being made, Draghi said in a clear message - expected by markets - on the forward guidance of interest rates.
    The ECB also cut eurozone inflation forecasts, from 1% to 0.1% this year and from 1.6% to 1.3% in 2017.
    Inflation is expected to reach 1.6% in 2018, Draghi said.