ANKARA
The European Central Bank will announce Thursday afternoon its decision on interest rates and whether it will begin to take important stimulus measures.
Central Bank governor, Mario Draghi, is expected to announce monthly purchases of €50 billion ($57.9 billion) in government debt to stimulate growth in the European economy.
The purchases are to increase liquidity in the monetary system, and to combat deflation, a continuing fall in prices.
Draghi has had to negotiate over fierce resistance from Germany, but a compromise is believed to have been reached. Germany has reportedly agreed to the measures on the basis that European national banks will take on part of the debt purchases.
Stock markets around the world have moved higher in anticipation of the announcement, which is seen as a concrete measure to increase European economic growth. It is hoped that the bond purchases will bring inflation in the Euro-zone up to 2 percent from its current level at negative 0.2 percent.
Announcements will be made at 1245GMT and 1330GMT.
