This marks the first time recently that the six-month Euribor has fallen below the 3.5 percent mark.

Effective June 12, the ECB lowered the interest rates on its main refinancing operations, marginal lending facility and deposit facility to 4.25 percent, 4.50 percent and 3.75 percent, respectively.

On July 18, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to leave these rates unchanged.

From below zero to 4 percent

From the end of 2015 through summer 2022, the six-month Euribor had remained below zero percent, clocking at -0.041 percent on January 4, 2016. It reached just above zero percent early that June, however, and broke above the 1-percent mark in August 2022 before continuing to climb.

The six-month Euribor exceeded the 4-percent mark for the first time since 2008 in mid-September, following the latest in a succession of decisions by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) to hike key interest rates again. It peaked at 4.142 around a month later, after which it began to decline.

The six-month rate peaked in December 2008 at a record 5.448 percent.

Interbank offered rates

Euribor rates are based on the interest rates at which a panel of European banks borrow funds from one another, according to the Euribor homepage.

The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) was a similar rate monitored as a key base rate in countries outside the Eurozone, including the U.S. and U.K. Phased out in stages, the U.S. dollar-based Libor ceased publication for one-, three- and six-month settings last summer.

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