European Central Bank March 2019 interest rate decision

Daniel Roland | AFP | Getty Images

Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) addresses a press conference following the meeting of the ECB’s Governing Council in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on January 25, 2018.

Back in December, the ECB forecast a growth rate of 1.7 percent for 2019. However, since then data has shown that growth has been more moribund than expectations. The region grew at its slowest pace in four years in 2018, numbers out in January showed.

The OECD also said Wednesday that it expects the euro area to grow at only 1 percent this year. Analysts are therefore expecting that the ECB will lower its growth forecast for the year at Thursday’s meeting.

The Frankfurt-based institution is in a tricky situation, having ended its massive bond buying purchase program last December. Growth seems to be stalling this year and core inflation is still below the bank’s target.

According to the bank’s December projections, core inflation, which excludes energy and food, is set to hit 1.4 percent this year. The ECB target is “below but close to 2 percent.”