European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi took a swipe at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday, as he defended the bank’s decision to keep monetary policy unchanged for another month.
On Wednesday, the IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called for more action from the ECB to combat falling inflation and keep the euro zone’s recovery on track.
But in a press conference following the ECB’s monthly monetary policy meeting, where it decided to hold rates at the record low of 0.25 percent, Draghi said he appreciated the IMF’s contribution – although his tone told another story.
“The IMF has been (recently) extremely generous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do, and we are really thankful for that,” Draghi said, but added that the ECB’s Governing Council disagreed.
Frankly, I would like the IMF to be as generous as they have been towards us also with other monetary policy jurisdictions, like for example issuing statements just the day before an FOMC (U.S. Federal Open Market Committee) meeting would take place,” he added.
