Concerned over fresh fears of an economic meltdown in Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday cut interest rates to an all-time low to zero across the euro zone and decreased two other interest rates. On Thursday, a 25-member Governing Council held a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany and announced a slew of unprecedented initiatives to revive its stalled economy. “The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Euro system will be decreased by 5 basis points to 0.00%, starting from the operation to be settled on March 16, 2016,� ECB announced in its monetary policy decisions on Thursday. The ECB reduced its marginal lending facility rates by 5 basis points to 0.25% and the deposit facility rates by 10 basis points to -0.40%. The body expanded the monthly purchases bond under the asset purchase programme to €80 billion a month from its earlier €60 billion a month starting in April and intended to run until March 2017. The Frankfurt-based institution also went on to increase the share limits for all the securities’ purchases issued by international organisations and multilateral development banks from 33% to 50%, in order to ensure smooth implementation of asset purchases. ECB’s President Mario Draghi denied speculations that the interest rates would be reduced further. “From today’s perspective, and taking into account the support of our measures to growth and inflation, we don’t anticipate that it will be necessary to reduce rates further. Of course, new facts can change the situation and the outlook,� Draghi said. Draghi underscored that the key ECB interest rates will remain at present or lower levels for a longer period of time considering the present global outlook for price stability.

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