Fischer Says ECB Long-Term Refinancing Operation ‘Innovative,’ WSJ Reports

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said the European Central Bank’s longer-term refinancing operation is “creative and innovative” and gives confidence in its crisis-fighting ability, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“It is possible that at some point in the future the ECB may have to consider doing even more than they have done so far,” Fischer said, according to the newspaper, which cited an interview. “The fact that they implemented the LTRO, which is creative and innovative, makes us think that, faced with a future challenge, they will be able to deal with it,” the Journal cited Fischer as saying.

Financial markets don’t foresee a change in the Bank of Israel’s benchmark interest rate in the next 12 months, Fischer told the paper before the Jerusalem-based central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged yesterday, according to the Journal. The governor said he’s not “looking” at succeeding Robert Zoellick as World Bank president when Zoellick’s five-year mandate ends June 30, the paper reported.

Fischer said in a Feb. 20 Bloomberg News interview in Jerusalem that “nobody should be relaxing at this stage” and that “it’s too early to tell” if the worst is over for the global economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net