Draghi hints ECB is ready to respond

European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi on Friday suggested the central bank may be ready to answer calls to ease monetary conditions in the euro zone, as risks to the financial system intensify and the bloc braces for elections in Greece this weekend that could decide the country’s future in the currency.

Draghi told a conference in Frankfurt that ECB would continue its “crucial role” of providing liquidity to sound banks against appropriate collateral. He said inflation expectations in the euro zone were well anchored and that there were no inflationary threats.

Providing liquidity “is what we have done throughout the crisis, faithful to our mandate of maintaining price stability over the medium term, and this is what we will continue to do,” Draghi said. The euro system, ECB and the 17 national central banks that use the single currency “will continue to supply liquidity to solvent banks where needed”, he added.

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--The Wall Street Journal

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