The ECB should not raise interest rates to the detriment of economic growth - Central Bank of Malta

European regulators should not raise interest rates to the detriment of economic growth in the eurozone with the large amount of debt, if inflation expectations remain restrained, according to a member of the Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), the head of the Central Bank of Malta Michael Bonello. "In such uncertain circumstances like these, we must combine adherence to the doctrine with a pragmatic approach. We must be careful not to complicate the situation for countries that are trying to overcome their debt problems through economic growth", - said M. Bonello said in an interview with Bloomberg . According to the head of the Central Bank of Malta is contrary to the position of many of his colleagues at the ECB, of which the experts concluded that the Central Bank of the eurozone will be much harder to come to a common decision to tighten monetary policy at the next meeting. Since the ECB's interest rate increase on April 7 from 1% to 1.25% yield and the cost of insuring against default by Greek and Portuguese bonds have jumped to record highs as the market fears of debt restructuring in Greece. "The crisis is not debt is gone, and the banking sector, which plays an important role in overcoming this crisis is still very weak in some countries", - said M. Bonello. According to the Head of the Central Bank of Malta, the current risks to economic growth in the euro area point to a possible deterioration of the situation, while the official position of the ECB says that the risks to the economic outlook are balanced. Source: Finmarket