In a lengthy interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the Governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco essentially states that the recovery is fragile, but it is there. Visco adds that within the ECB "we did what had to be done" and "the program worked". “We have a mandate to deal with price stability,” he-him says. Without the bond-buying program the inflation rate would be substantially lower than it is. We would currently record a stronger price decline".
And he warns against the risks of deflation: "I think we still have concrete risks of deflation ahead of us," Visco told the German daily. Visco would have stated that deflation is the greatest concern "it is the worst thing that can happen" according to a quoted phrase. Deflation leads to bankruptcies and very negative effects for the real economy in the opinion of the Italian central banker. On the subject, Visco would have added as a member of the ECB Governing Council: “We have to monitor what is happening. Obviously you can't have negative rates forever”.
