ECB Does Not Feel Restricted By Monetary Policy, Says Bini Smaghi

(CEP News) - The European Central bank does not feel constrained in its monetary policy options, according to European Central Bank Governing Council member Lorenzo Bin Smaghi on Friday.

“We don’t feel constrained,” said the central banker, adding that the ECB is flexible when making its monetary policy. “We’ve been able to take decisions in five minutes and we’ve done things rapidly,” he said.

Bini Smaghi went on to predict a bottoming in euro zone economic growth sometime towards the end of 2009, with some improvement next year.

“There is so much uncertainty that it’s very difficult at this stage to work on very precise numbers,” he added.

On fiscal stimulus, the central banker said that Europe and the Unites States had embarked on similar initiatives, and called on EU nations to respect the Growth and Stability Pact and maintain control over their finances.

By Erik Kevin Franco, efranco@economicnews.ca, edited by Ernest Hoffman, ehoffman@economicnews.ca

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Eurozone, Releases.

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