Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva is calling for the ECB to go beyond just being a lender of last resort to banks and to become one for his and other European governments. Specifically, he's calling on the ECB to make "unlimited" purchases of EU sovereign debt. This may be the first time one of Europe's leaders has publicly asked the ECB to take this step.
Would such a move by the ECB be a sound one? From a recent editorial in the FT:
More on the distinction between what is meant by being a lender of last resort to banks versus the governments here and why lender of last resort to sovereign countries is the proper role for the IMF.
Would such a move by the ECB be a sound one? From a recent editorial in the FT:
"If governments stand behind banks and banks stand behind governments and the central bank lends freely to both and also underwrites financial markets, then financial asset prices become completely detached from economic reality. In this “system”, the central bank implementing more quantitative easing is no different, in economic terms, from Bernie Madoff marking up his client accounts every month."From 'Circular commitments lead to a Ponzi economy'.
More on the distinction between what is meant by being a lender of last resort to banks versus the governments here and why lender of last resort to sovereign countries is the proper role for the IMF.
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