The European Central Bank (ECB) said that it has taken the decision to leave key interest rates unchanged and revised its forward guidance according to the new 2 percent symmetric inflation target. The ECB said on Thursday that the tweak of the forward guidance was meant "to underline its commitment to maintaining a persistently accommodative monetary policy stance to meet its inflation target".

The ECB Governing Council "expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it sees inflation reaching two percent well ahead of the end of its projection horizon and durably for the rest of the projection horizon", the central bank said in a statement released on Thursday. This may also imply a transitory period in which inflation is moderately above target," it added.

Earlier this month, the ECB approved a new monetary policy strategy that adopts the symmetric 2 percent inflation target over the medium term, following an 18-month strategy review, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the latest decisions, the eurozone key interest rates will remain at record low levels, with the base interest rate, marginal lending rate and deposit rate unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and minus 0.50 percent, respectively.

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