ECB 'thanks' IMF for advice on rates

(FRANKFURT) - European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi thanked the International Monetary Fund on Thursday for its "generous" advance in matters of monetary policy, but said it would act as it thought fit.

"IMF has been extremely generous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do," Draghi told his regular monthly news conference.

"We are really thankful for that. But the viewpoints of the governing council are in a sense different," Draghi said.

The ECB chief pointed out that the IMF did not make a habit of telling the US Federal Reserve what to do.

"I frankly would like the IMF to be as generous as they have been toward us also with other monetary policy jurisdictions like issuing statements just the day before an FOMC meeting would take place," he said.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde had argued Wednesday that it was "necessary" for the ECB to cut interest rates further to ward off the spectre of deflation in the euro area.

At its monthly policy-setting meeting on Thursday, the ECB's governing council held its key interest rates unchanged at their current all-time lows, despite an unexpected slowdown in area-wide inflation.