Forward Guidance

Draghi confirmed that interest rate would remain at the current low level or even lower for an extended period of time, with no precise deadline for the this extended period, citing the weak euro area economy and "subdued monetary dynamics."

The ECB did not discuss trying tying guidance to thresholds, Draghi said.   

The ECB President repeated that the economy will gradually recover, at subdued pace, later this year, where policy stance should support domestic demand. Recent confidence indicators show signs of improvement from low levels and "tentatively" confirm signs of recovery.

He illustrated that recovery is expected to be “tentative” in the second half of 2013 as risks to economic outlook remains to the downside due to the presence of volatility in financial markets, weakness in domestic demand and sluggish progress in structural reforms.  

Giving more details about the economy, he revealed that the labor market is still fragile and needs further reforms, the credit market is too fragmented which raises the need for accelerating the formation of banking union and governments should resume their determination to slash budget deficit while at the same time adopt policies that bolster growth.

Monetary stance “will remain accommodative for as long as necessary,” or, in other words, as long as the bank believes inflation pressure remains subdued.

"We have basically unanimously confirmed the forward guidance from last time," and we only discussed guidance, Draghi said.   

Inflation

Underlying price pressures are expected to remain “subdued “over the medium term, where, inflation expectations for euro area continue to remain firmly anchored.

Minutes

Draghi said he would present proposal on minutes in fall as they discussed whether to repeat words every time, revealing that discussing minutes is meanwhile at early stage. The ECB does not start from scratch on minutes.  

As of 12:58 GMT, the euro dropped versus the U.S. dollar to hit a low of 1.3196 from a high of 1.3309, where it is currently trading around 1.3233.