HAMBURG, Germany (MNI) – Monetary policy globally is very
accommodative and this is not appropriate at this point, European
Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark said Monday.
“Confidence has gradually returned, at least in the core of the
Eurozone,” he said in a speech at the Bundesbank’s local branch here.
Behind this “is a certain normalization on the interbank market”
“All in all, one can say that we here in Europe … emerged more
rapidly and better from this deepest and most severe crisis” than
expected, he said. “Economic growth is no longer dependent” on fiscal
and other stimuli.
In the U.S., where debt levels are relatively high, “the correction
on the American real estate market is not yet over,” Stark observed.
Back in Europe, Stark said that Greece and Ireland had “not been
ready” for monetary union. In the case of Greece, “the responsibility
lies first of all at the national level,” he reiterated.
“It is not just a matter of budget consolidation, it is also about
competitiveness, it is also about structural reforms” in Greece, he
emphasized, calling again for strenuous privatization efforts, since in
this area “there is enormous potential.”
He warned that “continued support of other countries leads to
dependency.”
In other comments, Stark called for more coordination of economic
policy in Europe and reiterated that the risks on the ECB’s balance
sheet in the wake of the crisis are “manageable.”
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: dbarwick@marketnews.com
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