ECB's Asmussen cautious on negative deposit rates

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - ECB Executive Board member Jörg Asmussen said on Monday in Berlin that he was less inclined towards introducing negative deposit rates than the central bank's president Mario Draghi and other Governing Council members and stressed that all pros and cons of such a solution should be carefully considered.

“Monetary policy is not an aspect of economic policy,” he pointed out and suggested that the ECB could not help Eurozone members that didn't follow the reform path and failed to regain investor confidence.

Jörg Asmussen also argued that deducting some state investments from budget deficit in order to facilitate meeting fiscal targets was a wrong strategy, and added that the EU stability and growth pact “shouldn't be messed around with.”
Finally the ECB Executive Board member assured that the central bank's monetary policy would remain expansive for as long as necessary.