Hard for ECB to ease policy further, says France's Sapin

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - France believes the European Central Bank's monetary policy is appropriate and could only be loosened further with difficulty, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday.

ECB President Mario Draghi struck a dovish tone after the central bank met last week, interpreted by many as a strong signal it will expand the 60 billion euros-a-month asset-buying program it launched in March to boost growth and inflation in the euro zone, or extend it beyond next September.

"It's hard to do much more monetary stimulus than this," Sapin told reporters at a briefing in Frankfurt.

"There is still a possibility to do more but we’ve already come a long way. France thinks this monetary policy is appropriate."

For the euro region's economy to return to durable and sustainable growth, coordinated initiatives beyond monetary policy are needed. "We need a global view of the needs of the euro zone," Sapin said.

(Reporting by Francesco Canepa; editing by John Stonestreet)

You May Also Be Interested In

• ECB's Lagarde says inflation more likely to ease but risks both ways
• Swiss franc, yen modestly up, but off highs, as Iran, Israel defuse tension
• US economic activity expanded slightly in recent weeks, Fed says