Mario Draghi, head of the
European Central Bank, warned Thursday that economic growth
prospects in the eurozone "are surrounded by several downside
risks".
Draghi, whose central bank has introduced a series of
policy measures to try to boost the region's sluggish economy,
was speaking to the Finnish parliament in Helsinki.
He also called for political leaders across the eurozone to
do more to boost economic growth.
"Monetary policy cannot do all the heavy lifting," Draghi
said.
Still, he said more policy action from the central bank is
possible as it works to raise inflation closer to the ECB's
target of 2%.
Markets have been watching to see if the central bank will
begin to buy large amounts of sovereign bonds, a process known
as quantitative easing.
With inflation in many eurozone countries barely above
zero, fears are growing of lingering stagnation across Europe.
Draghi also said that the ECB was seeing "tangible
signs" that its package of measures to increase the availability
of credit was paying off but it was ready to do more.
He added that countries in the eurozone need to begin to
"share sovereignty" over their national economic policies and
urged "a leap forward" in developing common institutions and
common rules on economic issues.
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