FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank (ECB) announced a reduction of its three key interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, in line with market expectations. This decision comes as part of the bank's revised evaluation of the inflation outlook and will take effect on December 18. According to Anadolu Agency, the ECB's statement indicated that the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations, and the marginal lending facility will be reduced to 3.00%, 3.15%, and 3.40%, respectively. The bank noted that the process of disinflation is progressing as anticipated, projecting headline inflation to average 2.4% for the current year, followed by 2.1% in 2025, 1.9% in 2026, and 2.1% in 2027. A flash estimate reported that headline inflation in the euro area increased to 2.3% in November, up from 2% in October. The ECB forecasts that inflation, excluding energy and food, will average 2.9% in 2024, 2.3% in 2025, and 1.9% in both 2026 and 2027. Core inflation, which excludes volatile cat egories such as food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco, remained steady at 2.7% in November. The eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP) saw a growth of 0.4% in the third quarter of 2024, an improvement from the 0.2% growth observed in the second quarter. On an annual basis, the eurozone economy experienced a growth of 0.9% from July to September, marking the most significant increase since 2023 and a rise from 0.6% in the April to June period.