ECB Negative Rate Would Help on Prices, Ex-Official Says

A negative deposit rate would help the European Central Bank in its fight against low inflation, according to former Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo.

“I don’t know why it should have negative effects,” Gonzalez-Paramo, 55, said in an interview in London yesterday. “Firstly, if this measure helps to contain the appreciation of the euro, this is good. Second, if this measure helps to revive the interbank market, as it should, that’s good also for the stressed countries because banks would have access to more liquidity at better prices.”