ECB's Nowotny says never say never on QE, but not now - CNBC
VIENNA (Reuters) - The European Central Bank "never should say never" to full-on quantitative easing, but such a programme is not in sight at the moment and the ECB should not be jolted into action every month, Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said.
"I think we all have learned in life that we never should say never. But I do not see some perspective at this time for this," Nowotny, who is also the governor of Austria's central bank, said in English when asked in a CNBC interview about "full-on" QE.
The interview was posted on CNBC's website on Friday.
To help support the flagging euro zone economy, the ECB, which meets next Thursday, has cut interest rates to record lows, offered banks cheap, long-term loans, and begun buying private sector assets.
The euro zone's central bank started buying covered bonds last week and plans to buy asset-backed securities (ABS), or bundled loans, later this year - both with a view to fostering lending to businesses and thereby supporting the bloc's economy.
The ECB should see what the uptake will be for a new tranche of long-term refinancing operations (LTRO) at the end of the year, Nowotny said. "I don't think we should be pushed by the markets to produce a new programme at every meeting we have," he said.
Full-on quantitative easing - essentially money printing by the central bank to buy sovereign bonds - would allow the ECB to make an impact in a large, liquid market.
However, any such purchase programme would be highly controversial, particularly in Germany, the euro zone's largest economy, where Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann worries such a plan would fall into the realm of financing governments.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla and Angelika Gruber; Editing by Alison Williams and Sonya Hepinstall)
