Kazimir Defends ECB Policy In Clash With Minister Over Prices

Some European Central Bank officials are coming under increasing heat from Eurozone governments as accelerating inflation stokes tension.

Governing Council member Peter Kazimir of Slovakia defended the Frankfurt-based ECB on Wednesday against his country’s economy minister, Richard Sulik, who said asset purchases under the bank’s quantitative easing program were hurting consumers.

“Those who make decisions at the ECB are to blame,” Sulik said at a news conference in Bratislava on Wednesday. He said quantitative easing by monetary policy makers consisted of a series of “fatally bad, destructive decisions” that was driving inflation that hit 8.4% in January, the highest since 2004.

Kazimir responded that he didn’t see a reason to react to Sulik’s “primitive diatribes.” The ECB’s pandemic-era measures have helped ward off an economic collapse, protect millions of jobs and allow Eurozone governments to finance their relief programs, Kazimir said in a statement.

“This aggressive rhetoric is only masking nervousness about the need to bring concrete solutions,” Kazimir said.