The benchmark borrowing rate for the now 15-nation single currency zone remained at 4% as the ECB measured twin threats from a spike in oil and food prices coupled with a banking crisis that followed the collapse of the US sub-prime housing market.

Of the two issues, inflation was a greater concern to ECB policy makers meeting in Frankfurt, among whom figured for the first time central bank governors from the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and  Malta, which adopted the euro on January 1.

Read More from Source:  Rte.ie