PARIS (Reuters) - Measures announced on Dec. 3 by the European Central Bank, including 360 billion euros (£262 billion) of additional asset buying, were sufficiently accommodative and the market reaction excessive, France's ECB governing council member said.
The ECB surprised markets on Dec. 3 when it unveiled less stimulus than expected. It said it would start buying municipal debt, but kept overall asset purchases unchanged.
The euro
"These large amounts show how the markets' immediate reaction was excessive," Francois Villeroy de Galhau said at a conference on competitiveness at the Bank of France, of which he is head.
Villeroy de Galhau added on Wednesday that there was no great divergence between the monetary policies of the euro zone and the United States.
"The Federal Reserve, in parallel, will take decisions based on the American economic situation: its mandate like ours is domestic," he said.
"So there is no 'great divergence', and the exchange rate is not a monetary policy goal. But the current euro-dollar rate has favourable effects on our price-competitiveness."
Eight years after a devastating recession opened an era of loose U.S. monetary policy, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday began a two-day meeting at which it is expected to turn in the other direction and raise rates in an increasingly normal economy.