ECB holds fire on its monetary stimulus

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided Thursday neither to change its key interests for the euro area, nor to extend its monthly asset purchase program of 80 billion euros (about 88 billion U.S. dollars) beyond March 2017.

ECB President Mario Draghi told a press conference that neither the question of extending the asset purchase program nor of tapering had been discussed at the Governing Council Meeting on Thursday, which takes place every six weeks to make interest rates decision.

However, the head of the ECB re-emphasized, "We will continue to act, if warranted, by using all instruments available within our mandate."

The ECB new staff macroeconomic projections extended until 2019 is scheduled to release in December, based on which the ECB Governing Council is expected to come up with further action plan regarding its monetary policy.

"Our December decisions will tell you what we are going to do in the coming months," said Draghi.

The ECB has been keeping the deposit facility rates for the euro area below zero since June 2014 while the idea of implementation of negative interest rate policy remains controversial.

There is no evidence showing that negative rates harm the transmission of monetary policy, said Draghi.

"Low interest rates work, like they have worked in other policy jurisdictions," he added, the credit growth in the euro area has recovered from minus 3 percent at start of 2014 to 3 percent now. Endit