ATHENS, Oct 6: The European Central Bank, the eurozone’s inflation watchdog, growled and bared its teeth here on Thursday as runaway oil rates pushed up consumer prices in the 12-country eurozone, but the bank stopped short of biting just yet.

The guardian of the euro, meeting in the Greek capital instead of its usual home venue of Frankfurt, held its key rates steady as expected for the 28th month in a row. The ECB held the minimum bid rate for its regular refinancing operations at 2.00 per cent, where it has been since June 2003.

And it also held its two other key rates — the deposit rate and the marginal lending rate — unchanged at 1.00 per cent and 3.00 per cent respectively.

The ECB decision came shortly after the Bank of England announced it was also holding its own key interest rate steady at 4.50 per cent.

At a news conference after the meeting, ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet insisted that the bank continued to view the current level of borrowing costs in Europe as “appropriate”.

Nevertheless, high oil prices meant that the bank had to remain “strongly vigilant” with regard to the upward risks to price stability, the Frenchman insisted.

“Strong vigilance is warranted,” Trichet said.—AFP