FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank held its key interest rates steady, as expected on Thursday, leaving eurozone borrowing costs at historic lows after cutting rates twice in recent months.
The ECB's policy-setting governing council voted to leave the rate for its main refinancing operations unchanged at 1.0 percent at its regular monthly meeting here.
No rate changes had been expected this week after the recent rate cuts and the unprecedented amounts of liquidity pumped into the banking system to avert a possible credit crunch in the eurozone economy.
Analysts and central bank watchers said that the bank, the guardian of the euro, would want to see how those measures have played out before taking further action.
Last week, the ECB threw open its liquidity floodgates for the second time in two months, flooding the banking system with cheap funds in order to avert a dangerous credit squeeze.
That brings to more than 1.0 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) the total amount banks have borrowed from the ECB at exceptionally low interest rates since December.
The ECB hopes the banks will lend the money to households and businesses and also use it to bring down government borrowing costs.
The measure does indeed seem to be working, even if analysts agree it will not be enough on its own to solve the eurozone's crippling debt crisis and will merely buy time.
Bank president Mario Draghi is scheduled to discuss the reasoning behind the latest decision at a regular news conference.
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