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ECB must act to save euro, says OECD chief Angel Gurria

 

Nick Goodway
Monday 03 September 2012 13:40 BST
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The European Central Bank should do more to stem the crisis in the eurozone because the current financial facilities are not enough, the secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said yesterday.

"If you have the ECB which can work in the markets in order to bring down maturities, then why not?" Angel Gurria said during an international business and political conference in Slovenia, which could become the sixth eurozone country to seek a bail out.

"The system is at stake, the euro should not be put at risk … the EFSF and the ESM are not enough, fast enough, reactive enough," Mr Gurria added.

He was referring to the European Financial Stability Facility and the European Stability Mechanism, the new, permanent euro rescue fund seen as a key fiscal pillar in Europe's efforts to stem the crisis.

Mr Gurria said he "hoped and expected" Germany's Constitutional Court would approve the ESM on 12 September, after it was endorsed by parliament in June. Failure to approve it would almost certainly doom the ESM.

Asked if the ECB should start unlimited bond buying, he said: "Yes, I believe they should, the sooner, the better."

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