ECB Keeps Historic Low Interest Rate For Fourth Straight Month

While the European Central Bank raised its forecast for the rest of the year, ECB President Mario Draghi said that the bank will keep interest rates at their historic low levels because a sudden economic downturn is still more likely than a sharp upturn, reports Geoffrey T. Smith for The Wall Street Journal. ECB expectations for Eurozone contraction The ECB expects the Eurozone to contract by 0.4 percent instead of 0.6 percent for FY2013, but it also lowered its growth target for 2014 from 1.1 percent to 1 percent. Draghi said that official rates would remain at or below current…