With low inflation and record high unemployment, analysts will on Thursday be looking for signs from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi of a possible rate cut in the coming months to boost the sluggish euro zone economy.

Still, the ECB is expected to hold interest rates at an historic low of 0.5 per cent.

The ECB meeting follows last week’s release of data showing annual inflation in the currency bloc had fallen to a four-year low of 0.7 per cent in October and a further pick-up in jobless queues across the region during September.

The drop in inflation took consumer prices to well under the ECB’s target of keeping inflation close to but below 2 per cent.

Analysts say Draghi might also use his press conference, which will follow the bank’s governing council meeting, to point to other possible action under consideration by the bank.

This could include rolling out a new round of cheap loans under the bank’s long-term refinancing operations to help boost liquidity in the euro zone’s financial sector.

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