For yet another month the ECB sat on its hands and made no change to current policy at its April meeting. However, President Mario Draghi’s tone was noticeably more downbeat, as he said that the risks to the economic recovery, slated for the second half of this year, are to the downside. He also sounded concerned about the lack of credit for small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in the hard-hit south. However, so far the ECB’s concern is about all that these SME’s will get from the central bank, as the President also said that before new measures could be adopted they would require careful consideration. ... (full story)