European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi (rear) attends a press conference at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 10, 2016. The Governing Council of the ECB decided to cut the main refinancing operations rate for the euro area by 5 basis points to record low of zero percent on Thursday. [Photo: Xinhua]

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to cut the main refinancing operations rate for the euro area by 5 basis points to record low of zero percent on Thursday.

The interest rate on the marginal lending facility will be decreased by 5 basis points to 0.25 percent and the interest rate on the deposit facility will be decreased by 10 basis points to minus 0.4 percent, with effect from 16 March 2016.

Apart from interest rate changes, the ECB decided to expand its monthly purchase of asset by 20 billion euros (22.28 billion U.S. dollars) to 80 billion euros from April. The assets eligible for purchase under the asset purchase program have also been expanded to include investment grade euro-denominated bonds issued by non-bank corporations established in the euro area.

A new series of four targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO II), each with a maturity of four years, will be launched, starting in June 2016.

"This comprehensive package will exploit the synergies between the different instruments and has been calibrated to further ease financing conditions, stimulate new credit provision and thereby reinforce the momentum of the euro area's economic recovery and accelerate the return of inflation to levels below, but close to 2 percent," ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference following the governing council meeting.

The purchase of asset will run until the end of March 2017 or beyond as necessary.

Draghi said the Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time.

The ECB expects the economic recovery to proceed at a moderate pace. "The most recent survey data point to weaker than expected growth momentum at the beginning of this year."

According to the March 2016 staff macroeconomic projections of the ECB for the euro area, annual real GDP in the area is foreseen to increase by 1.4 percent in 2016, 1.7 percent in 2017 and 1.8 percent in 2018, down from what the staff foresaw in December 2015.

With regard to inflation, the annual Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) in the euro area fell to minus 0.2 percent in February from 0.3 percent in January. The ECB expects the inflation to remain at negative levels and pick up later this year.

It is the first time that the ECB has cut interest rates in 2016. It lowered the interest rate on the deposit facility by 10 basis points to minus 0.3 percent in December last year.