ECB bond buying is an 'antibiotic that has stopped working,' former Greek finance chief says

  • 📰 CNBC
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 51 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 24%
  • Publisher: 72%

Australia News News

Australia Australia Latest News,Australia Australia Headlines

The ECB needs to reinvent itself and come up with new policy tools, Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's former finance minister told CNBC Thursday.

However, inflation — the main focus for the ECB — has failed to pick up to the bank's target of "close but below 2%." As a result, it announced its new round of QE in September, with monthly purchases set to reach 20 billion euros .

Otmar Issing, a former chief economist at the ECB, was also dismissive of the move, telling CNBC on Wednesday: "This does not make, in my mind, any sense."One of the potentialis that the additional money supply it creates may not achieve its ultimate goal: increasing bank lending and boosting investment.

Furthermore, QE could also ultimately lead to a devalued currency — meaning that imports would become more expensive. Speaking to CNBC, Varoufakis argued that the incoming ECB PresidentA euro-wide bond would include debt from different countries, mixing, for instance, Italian and German debt. The latter is perceived as a less-risky asset than Italian bonds and mixing the two is seen as controversial in some corners of the continent.

French President-designate of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde reacts during a meeting prior's to attend a European Parliament's Committee on Economic Affairs at the EU Parliament, in Brussels, on September 4, 2019.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

It does not work properly or not many things when you go against me, as all of you will see later also--

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 12. in AU

Australia Australia Latest News, Australia Australia Headlines