The European Central Bank (ECB) gave further details of its new long-term lending program for banks on Thursday, after keeping monetary policy unchanged. The bank maintained interest rates at their current levels, with the main refinancing rate at a record low of 0.15 percent.
At his regular post-decision press conference, ECB President Mario Draghi also announced that the frequency of the bank's meetings would change to a six-week cycle from January 2015, and that it would start publishing minutes of its policy meetings.
Analysts expected the ECB to hold fire this month, after it announced a series of measures in June to combat the euro zone's growth-sapping disinflation and spur its recovery. These measures included a negative interest rate on banks for parking deposits with the ECB and a 400 billion-euro ($546 billion) loan program for banks.
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