MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trichet does not believe the US is actively weakening the dollar by printing money

ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday he did not think the United States was actively trying to weaken the dollar by printing money, despite criticism from emerging economic powerhouses.

The Federal Reserve committed on Wednesday to buying 600 billion USD in bonds with newly created money to pump liquidity into a struggling U.S. economy. The Bank of Japan made a similar move last month.

A rise of the Euro has calmed over the last month but the single European currency jumped above 1.42 after the Fed announcement.

”I have no indication that would change my trust in the fact that (U.S. policymakers) ... are not playing the strategy of the weak dollar,“ Trichet told a news conference after the ECB held interest rates at a record low of 1% for the 18th month running.

”It is in the interest of the U.S. to have a strong dollar vis-à-vis the other floating currencies,“ he said. But analysts said his confidence might be misplaced.

However policymakers from the world's new economic powerhouses in Latin America and Asia said they would consider fresh steps to curb capital inflows after the Fed move, which threatens to boost their currencies and makes any substantive deal on tackling global economic imbalances at next week's Group of 20 meeting in Seoul less likely.

Trichet declined to comment more closely on the Fed's action.

”We have our mandate and ... the Governing Council of the ECB is faithful to its mandate,“ he said. ”Ask everybody to judge ourselves on the results of our policy.”

Analysts read that as meaning the ECB would not follow the Fed in easing, something it has show no signs of doing.