ECB holds rates amid recovery

The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its key interest rate on hold on Thursday and raised its economic growth forecasts as it acknowledged that the recovery is strengthening in the 18 countries that use the euro. The euro jumped as markets took the bank's inaction and the comments from its president, Mario Draghi, as a sign that the top monetary authority for the eurozone might not take further steps to stimulate the economy. "Amid a gradually firming recovery, the ECB sees no need to act," analyst Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank in London wrote in a research note. "Draghi also gave no indication today that the ECB may ease policy again in the foreseeable future." After the decision to keep the key rate at a record low of 0.25 per cent, Draghi said the bank had raised its projection for economic growth to 1.2 per cent this year, up slightly from the 1.1 per cent estimate made in December, according to a news agency.