IMF’s Blanchard: Negative rates is not something ECB should be using at this point

Speaking at an Italian workshop today, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told CNBC that the ECB should not be using negative interest rates policy at present.

Key Quotes on ECB’s monetary policy:

My general view is that there is no fire in the house. Basically, they have to keep monetary policy as helpful as possible, but it's not time for desperate measures or extreme measures

In that respect, I think that negative rates is not something they should be using at this point

It probably works, but it really has effects on the banking system

I don't expect things to go that bad that they have to use them.

Key Quotes on the US economy:

The US is more or less back to full employment, normal inflation, steady growth… if you take one step back, basically the US economy has returned to normal