Ask the boss

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, on Friday outlined what he expected would happen as a result of the central bank’s move.

“Italian banks will be able to borrow [from the ECB] at 1 per cent, while the Italian state is borrowing at 6-7 per cent. It doesn’t take a finance specialist to see that the Italian state will be able to ask Italian banks to finance part of the government debt at a much lower rate.”

The article is here.  My earlier comments, sadly neglected by an otherwise attentive blogosphere, were here.