FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The European Central Bank left its monetary policy unchanged Thursday, citing an expectation that inflation would remain "subdued."
The Bank of England also said it would keep its overnight lending rate and its asset purchasing program intact.
"Incoming information and analysis have further underpinned our previous assessment. Underlying price pressures in the euro area are expected to remain subdued over the medium term," ECB President Mario Draghi said in remarks prepared for a press conference.
Draghi noted that the gross domestic product in the eurozone turned positive in the second quarter after posting six consecutive quarters of contraction.
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Nevertheless, few expected the ECB would change its policy this month, as the recovery is just taking hold.
In August, Draghi said monetary policy would most likely remain intact "for an extended period of time."
On Thursday, Draghi reiterated the point. "Our monetary policy continues to be geared towards maintaining the degree of monetary accommodation warranted by the outlook for price stability and promoting stable money market conditions," he said.
"It thereby provides support to a gradual recovery in economic activity," Draghi said.
In May, the ECB cut its overnight lending rate from 0.75 percent, where it had been since July 2012, to 0.5 percent as the eurozone had, at that point, just posted its sixth consecutive quarter of what Draghi called, "negative output growth."
"Looking ahead, our monetary policy stance will remain accommodative for as long as necessary," Draghi said.
In London, the Bank of England said that it would keep its 0.5 percent overnight interest rate in place.
The announcement was widely expected.
The bank does not explain its policy positions until it releases meeting minutes three weeks after a policy meeting, but in early August BOE Gov. Mark Carney said that policy would likely remain unchanged until the unemployment rate fell to 7 percent.
Like the eurozone, the British economy is crawling out of a recession. except that Britain broke out of a contracting gross domestic product trend in the first quarter and the eurozone remained in contraction until the second quarter.
