The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to hold eurozone interest rates at their current record high after its first monetary policy meeting of the year on Thursday. The Frankfurt-based central bank will announce its decisions at 2:15 pm (1315 GMT). The ECB ended its long era of zero and negative interest rates in July 2022. It repeatedly hiked rates in order to tame soaring inflation as the euro currency area came out of the pandemic. The central bank ultimately raised interest rates 10 times in a row before the run ended in October. The main refinancing operations rate, which provides li…