The European Central Bank, which cut its key interest rates to new all-time lows today, did not discuss any further "non-standard" measures to beat the crisis, President Mario Draghi said.
"We didn't discuss any other non-standard measures," Draghi told a news conference.
He was referring to an artillery of special emergency measures at its disposal, such as injections of liquidity into the bank system, or buying up the bonds of debt-hit states
A programme of indirectly buying up the bonds of debt-mired countries - known as the Securities Markets Programme - has lain dormant for 16 weeks.
The ECB also appears reluctant to embark on further massive injections of liquidity while the effects of two previous ones in December and February amounting to over €1 trillion have still to make themselves fully felt.
The size and complexity of those two operations, known as long-term refinancing operations, were such that it was not possible to assess exactly what effects they have had, Draghi said
The aim of the LTROs was to avert a looming credit crunch, because the ECB hoped banks would lend the cheap funds to businesses and households and keep credit flowing in the debt-wracked euro zone economy.
However, the cash does not appear to be trickling through into the real economy, recent data suggest, with lending by euro zone banks to the private sector actually contracting in May. Draghi attributed that to low demand for credit, rather than the restrictive lending policies of banks.
"The credit is led predominantly by demand. When the demand is weak you won't expect credit growth," he argued, adding that it was not part of the ECB's remit to instruct banks what to do with the money.
Draghi denied the ECB is running out of possible policy options to tackle the crisis. "We still have our artillery ready. We still have all our tools to pursue our objectives within our mandate," he said, while refusing to elaborate further on what other possible non-standard measures the ECB could resort to.
The decision to cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point to an all-time low of 0.75% was taken unanimously by the ECB's 23-member governing council, Draghi said.
The ECB's move also followed a rate cut by China's central bank and new stimulus measures by the Bank of England.
The rate cut could mean lower borrowing costs for banks, businesses and consumers. Some economists say it may have only a symbolic effect, since rates are already very low. Lending activity remains weak because there is little demand from businesses for credit in the euro zone.
The ECB also cut its overnight deposit rate - what it charges banks for depositing their money with the ECB overnight - to zero. That is meant to encourage banks to invest their money in the economy rather than stash it with the ECB.
Asked whether the euro zone's current bailout funds, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and European Stability Mechanism (ESM), had sufficient funds to a collapse of any more euro zone states, Draghi said they would be "adequate".
Mr Draghi said the bank sees no danger of inflation in the months ahead. He welcomed the European Council conclusions to take action to address financial market tensions and revive growth. He said they agreed that EMU needs to be put on a sounder footing.
The ECB President also welcomed the commitment to develop a specific time bound roadmap for a genuine Economic and Monetary Union. He also said he was happy about the move to appoint a single banking regulator, and the ability of the ESM to invest directly in banks.
The ECB boss also said that Ireland's success in markets today after the country's T-bill auction should be "properly celebrated."
''Ireland is a member country that through extraordinary efforts has run a programme that is so much on track to the extent that it has returned to the market today,'' Mr Draghi said.
He said today's auction was ''testimony to the Irish people who have owned this programme and made sacrifices''. He added that the ''event is making the financial environment a little less tense than it was a month ago''.
Tracker mortgage holders to save €15 per €100,000
For Irish tracker mortgage holders, each quarter of a percentage point cut translates to around €15 of a saving per €100,000 in mortgage debt.
The European Central Bank's minimum refinancing rate is the ECB's main instrument for controlling credit and fighting inflation in the euro zone.
The 'refi' rate, which is used during weekly ECB refinancing operations, is the barometer for lending costs in the 17 countries that have adopted Europe's single currency.
Banks which want to refinance their accounts do so by paying interest on the sum borrowed from their respective national central banks.
The rate they pay is based on the ECB's reference rate. Commercial banks then pass on the cost, with a margin, when they grant loans to clients.
When the central bank's rate rises, so does the cost of borrowing money and the demand for credit usually decreases, which helps to curb inflation. On the other hand, as the ECB's benchmark rate decreases, so too, normally, does the rate offered to the public, boosting credit growth and so helping economic growth.
