FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank will do everything it
can to maintain price stability in the Eurozone, ECB President Mario
Draghi said Monday in testimony to the European Parliament.
Reiterating that the ECB’s mandate included maintaining price
stability “on both sides,” Draghi said the “inflation path is moving
favourably” towards the ECB’s medium-term inflation goals.
Draghi said the ECB remains in a constant “search for actions that
could attenuate the current crisis” in the Eurozone. In addition, the
ECB “will keep all liquidity lines open to solvent banks” in the
monetary union.
Draghi acknowledged that “the present economic condition…is not
due to interest rates being too high but it was due to lack of
liquidity.” Still, with inflation under control, Draghi said “we also
thought it was a wise thing to lower interest rates” at the last ECB
Governing Council meeting.
Without precommitting to future actions, Draghi said of the ECB’s
next meeting: “We have to look at what the situation is…and then we’ll
make up our mind.”
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: ccermak@marketnews.com
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