ECB’s Lagarde Says Monetary Policy Can’t Solve Debt Problems

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned against seeing monetary policy as a solution to debt problems, implicitly rejecting recent suggestions from France’s far-right party that the institution should relaunch large-scale asset purchases.

“There is always the concern that a short-sighted government may be tempted to try to force the hand of a central bank to finance its debt — despite the lessons of history,” she said Saturday, without singling out any individual countries.