The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut its key interest rate to 1.5% from 2.0%, the lowest since it started in 1999, as the eurozone slides deeper into recession.

The cut had been expected since ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet had described the meeting as a key “rendezvous” for ECB rate-setters. Analysts expect the ECB to keep cutting interest rates in the next few months as the financial turmoil and recession exert a tighter stranglehold on the euro zone.

Expectations are now on European mortgage providers as to whether they will pass on the rate cut in full.