Summary Box: ECB keeps rates unchanged
ON THEIR OWN: The European Central Bank told member governments and banks it was now up to them to reduce debt and improve growth as it left its benchmark refinancing rate unchanged at a record low of 1 percent.
NEXT STEPS: Central bank chief Mario Draghi said governments and banks, but especially banks, must continue reforms and repair their balance sheets to support a recovery.
PUMP IS PRIMED: Draghi said 460 of the 800 banks taking loans in February — more than half — were from Germany and small, thus the lenders most likely to work with small businesses, which provide most of the jobs in the eurozone.
