European Central Bank President Mario Draghi swatted away suggestions from the International Monetary Fund that his bank should ease monetary policy further on Thursday, questioning the timing of the Fund's most recent comments.
"The IMF has been of recent extremely generous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do, and we are really thankful for that," Draghi told a news conference after the ECB's monthly policy meeting.
"Frankly, I would like the IMF to be as generous as they have been towards us also with other monetary policy jurisdictions, like for example issuing statements just the day before a (US Federal Reserve) meeting would take place," he said.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday called on the ECB to ease monetary policy to move prices higher, saying "lowflation" in advanced economies risked undercutting an already sluggish global recovery.
The ECB left its policies unchanged on Thursday, holding its main interest rate at a record low of 0.25% and the rate for bank deposits at central banks at zero, hoping the eurozone recovery will gain strength unaided.
ECB chief Mario Draghi told a news conference that he and his colleagues expected a prolonged period of low inflation and that if it dragged on too long, action would be taken.
That marked a significant shift of tone from last month when he appeared to set quite a high bar to action. "We will monitor developments very closely and we will consider all instruments available to us," Draghi said.
"We are resolute in our determination to maintain a high degree of monetary accommodation and act swiftly if required."
He emphasised that any policy shift could be over and above interest rate moves, saying: "The governing gouncil is unanimous in its commitment to using also unconventional instruments within its mandate in order to cope effectively with risks of a too prolonged period of low inflation."
He added that printing money - quantitative easing - had been discussed at Thursday's policy meeting.
theguardian.com
"The IMF has been of recent extremely generous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do, and we are really thankful for that," Draghi told a news conference after the ECB's monthly policy meeting.
"Frankly, I would like the IMF to be as generous as they have been towards us also with other monetary policy jurisdictions, like for example issuing statements just the day before a (US Federal Reserve) meeting would take place," he said.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday called on the ECB to ease monetary policy to move prices higher, saying "lowflation" in advanced economies risked undercutting an already sluggish global recovery.
The ECB left its policies unchanged on Thursday, holding its main interest rate at a record low of 0.25% and the rate for bank deposits at central banks at zero, hoping the eurozone recovery will gain strength unaided.
ECB chief Mario Draghi told a news conference that he and his colleagues expected a prolonged period of low inflation and that if it dragged on too long, action would be taken.
That marked a significant shift of tone from last month when he appeared to set quite a high bar to action. "We will monitor developments very closely and we will consider all instruments available to us," Draghi said.
"We are resolute in our determination to maintain a high degree of monetary accommodation and act swiftly if required."
He emphasised that any policy shift could be over and above interest rate moves, saying: "The governing gouncil is unanimous in its commitment to using also unconventional instruments within its mandate in order to cope effectively with risks of a too prolonged period of low inflation."
He added that printing money - quantitative easing - had been discussed at Thursday's policy meeting.
theguardian.com
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