<Tenders, Govt contracts & EU funding for SMEs / >

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided to maintain stable its key interest rates, thus leaving the main rate at 0.75%. According to the Bank's president, Mario Draghi, the ECB aims at keeping inflation below 2% by 2013, although close to that figure. However, he noted, further rises on indirect taxes are likely to happen due to the need for fiscal consolidation in some countries in the euro area.

As regard to the excessive risk premia observed in government bond prices in several countries in the euro area, ECB President described these risk premia as completely unacceptable. President Draghi also stressed that these high risk premia are largely originated by the concerns raised about the stability of the single currency, and underlined that the euro is irreversible.

According to the ECB's Governing Council, in order to eliminate the conditions which generate these high risk premia it is necessary for governments in the euro area to continue with fiscal consolidation and structural reforms and to strengthen European institutions. Draghi pointed out that governments should be prepared to activate the EFSF/ESM stability mechanism in the event that the financial stability of the euro area was at risk.

Should the European Central Bank undertake outright open market operations, these would be of a size adequate to reach its objective. The Bank will discuss over the coming week the possibility to undertake further so called non-standard monetary policy measures and will design the appropriate modalities for such measures.