NEW YORK—Major central banks took significant steps last week toward dismantling the emergency stimulus they’d used to lubricate financial markets and escape recession in the decade since the financial crisis. But most are clear that they’re not ready to get out of the business of supporting their economies.

One dollar bill printing plates are ready to print money at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2015. Mark Wilson/Getty Images
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