OCR 2888 -  Biggest ECB Move

The apparent inertia of the European Central Bank to change interest rates in response to the volatile macroeconomic climate has been an ongoing criticism of those who believe that the ECB has been too fixated on meeting the inflation target to the detriment of growth and jobs in the Euro Area. As recently as early this year the ECB was still raising interest rates in response to a pick up in inflation. Yesterday the ECB cut official interest rates by 0.75% - its biggest ever interest rate reduction - bringing policy rates down to 2.5% - a smidgeon higher than in the UK. This BBC article covers the news.