Analyst: ECB closer to ‘helicopter cash’ policy

The ECB is running out of road with its efforts to boost the moribund eurozone economy and may have to consider giving money directly to households, leading economist Alan McQuaid has said.

The comments come after the ECB’s chief economist, Peter Praet, said the central bank can cut interest rates again if the eurozone’s economy fails to pick up and, under extreme circumstances, it might even consider printing money and giving it out directly to people.

“The comments from the ECB’s Praet and Draghi have exerted some pressure on the euro,” said Peter Dragicevich, a foreign-exchange strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in London.