European Central Bank President Mario Draghi dismissed a German-led push for the bank to start planning a retreat from emergency crisis-fighting, but stressed it was keeping a close eye on price pressures.
Banks grabbed 530 billion Euros at the European Central Bank's second offering of cheap three-year funds on Wednesday, fuelling hopes that more credit will flow to businesses and government borrowing costs will ease further.
The European Central Bank's flood of cheap three-year money is helping the Euro zone's banking system substantially and supporting confidence in the bloc's economy which is showing some signs of stabilisation, president Mario Dragui said on Thursday.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a point Thursday to counter the twin threats of recession and deflation in the Euro zone, and is expected to unveil fresh measures to help banks hurt by the bloc's debt crisis.
Pessimistic comments from Germany and new figures exposing deepening stress among Europe's banks dented financial market hopes of a turning point in the Euro zone's debt crisis at a summit this week.
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told Euro zone governments on Friday to act fast to get their rescue fund up and running, expressing exasperation at their lack of progress in response to an escalating debt crisis.
The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% as the Euro zone's worsening debt crisis outweighed the concern over persistently high inflation.
The European Central Bank is offering new emergency loans to banks to help steady the Euro zone's financial crisis. The new funding, worth about 40bn Euros would enable banks to draw down one-year loans.
The current and incoming head of the European Central Bank demanded that European governments quickly implement a strengthening of a regional bailout fund and press ahead with wider reforms.
Italy's upper house of parliament has agreed to a sweeping austerity budget in a move intended to allay concerns over a possible bailout. Meanwhile, Greece must come to terms with another ratings downgrade.