(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank won’t act to address government-bond-market fluctuations that stem from political risks, according to Governing Council member Joachim Nagel.
Asked about the spike in French borrowing costs related to uncertainty over next year’s budget, the Bundesbank president told an event in Frankfurt that “everything we do in the Governing Council has a monetary policy focus.”
“What happens with individual government bonds is typically a reflection of what may be happening politically in the country at the time,” he said. “But political risks, which may then be reflected in higher risk premiums on financial markets, wouldn’t be an issue that would justify us concluding that the transmission of the monetary-policy impulse is disrupted.”
The ECB created an emergency bond-buying program, know as TPI, in 2022 under which in can purchase government securities if it deems the transmission of its policy to be threatened by unwarranted and disorderly market dynamics. A country would have to fulfill certain requirements, including on fiscal sustainability, to be eligible.
However, “it’s not the task of monetary policy to bail out individual countries,” Nagel said. “There are now enough other instruments available.”