ECB's Praet says interest rates have not hit lower limit

[FRANKFURT] Interest rates have not reached their lower limit, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Peter Praet was quoted as saying on Friday, adding that a rate reduction remained part of the ECB's armoury.

"As other central banks have demonstrated, we have not reached the physical lower bound," he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Mr Praet added that if "negative shocks should worsen the outlook or if financing conditions should not adjust in the direction and to the extent that is necessary to boost the economy and inflation, a rate reduction remains in our armoury".

REUTERS