BRUSSELS, May 8 --The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.25 percent at a regular rate-setting meeting here.

The interest rates on the main refinancing operations in May, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.25 percent, 0.75 percent and 0.00 percent respectively, according to a statement released by the ECB.

Eurozone annual inflation is expected to be 0.7 percent in April 2014, up from 0.5 percent in March, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union earlier.