The European Central Bank on Thursday piled further pressure on eurozone commercial banks to kick-start lending to business and consumers, as it made clear official interest rates could remain at the current record low for a protracted period.

Interest rate moves

Our interactive feature tracks the interest rate decisions by the Bank of England, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan and the inflation rates in their economies

Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, urged banks to live “up to their responsibilities” in reviving credit flows. He declared the ECB was happy with last week’s results of its first injection of unlimited one-year liquidity, which saw it pumping €442.2bn into the eurozone banking system. But he saw the initiative now lying with the banks to ensure the funds were used to boost economic growth prospects.