AMSTERDAM: Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has signaled he would not object to the European Central Bank (ECB) purchasing national bonds of members states.
The ECB is widely expected to announce such a quantitative easing (QE) programme next week, in a bid to stave off deflation in the Eurozone, though details of how the programme will work are still undecided.
The Dutch government has allied itself with German positions on monetary and fiscal policy throughout Europe's debt crisis, opposing measures which could be seen as either the ECB monetizing debt or northern European governments' assuming risk for debt taken on by southern European countries.
But in an interview with Het Financieele Dagblad during a visit to South Korea and published on Saturday, Dijsselbloem spoke positively about the idea.
QE would give banks "more room to invest and finance companies," he was quoted saying. "That can definitely give the economy of the Eurozone a boost."
Dijsselbloem's spokeswoman Simone Boitelle confirmed the newspaper's quotes were accurate but said some context had been left out. She said Dijsselbloem also said some of the reasons to undertake a QE programme had been removed by the recent decline in the value of the euro against other major currencies.
In addition, she said the minister was not confident a QE programme would have a large effect, with ECB interest rates already close to zero and yields on government bonds in many Eurozone countries at or near record lows.
Dijsselbloem's comments follow an interview published by German daily Der Spiegel Friday in which the Netherlands' Central Bank President Klaas Knot said he could endorse QE only if national central banks in the eurozone buy bonds issued by their own governments.
"This would lower the danger of there being an undesired redistribution of financial risks," the paper quoted Knot saying. That is similar to the position of Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann.
But critics say a QE programme in that form would prove ineffectual and undermine confidence in the euro.
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