FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday that the bank is considering doing more to shore up the ailing eurozone economy.

In comments following the bank's widely anticipated decision to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.75 percent, Draghi confirmed that an interest rate cut was discussed.

He also said the 23-member governing council was looking at ``various tools'' that go beyond lower interest rates in case the economic recovery doesn't turn out as expected.

Draghi said the rate discussion ``was extensive'' but that the council decided to leave rates alone ``for the time being.''

He also held out the possibility that the central bank was looking at more measures to boost the economy.  The bank, he said, was ``looking at various instruments, various tools'' beyond interest lower rates and ``thinking 360 degrees'' on new tactics.

He added that the bank would consider the experience of other countries but do what was best-suited to Europe's institutions.

Draghi's comments saw the euro falter for a brief while as investors priced in the possibility of a more aggressive approach from the ECB. At one stage, the euro had fallen around a cent to $1.2755 before recovering.

``Clearly the ECB is thinking about potential new or additional measures,'' said Marie Diron, senior economic adviser at Ernst & Young.

Whatever the ECB comes up with is likely to pale in comparison to developments in Tokyo earlier, where the Bank of Japan announced a massive expansion of its non-standard efforts to increase the amount of money in the economy. Japan is struggling to overcome years of falling prices that have crippled growth.

Though Draghi didn't spell out what policy changes could emerge, analysts say the bank could look at ways to encourage lending to midsize companies that could allow banks to bundle small business loans as securities and park them at the ECB as collateral for central bank loans.

Allowing banks to have credit for periods longer than the current 3-month maximum for new credits is another possibility that's been mentioned. The bank has previously made loans for as long as three years, a measure considered to have helped stabilize banks _ though it did not stimulate abundant new lending to companies.

The eurozone is stuck in recession and the ECB says it will shrink 0.5 percent this year, though it predicts a gradual recovery later year. 

Draghi stuck to that recovery forecast, but said it was ``subject to downside risk.'' Weak economic indicators suggest that the currency union's economy shrank in the first quarter for the sixth quarter in a row.