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ECB's Stark eyes end of loose monetary policy: report


    BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank could begin exiting its phase of loose monetary policy from July, ECB Executive Board Member Juergen Stark was quoted as saying by German weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche on Saturday.

    "At the start of July the banks in the euro zone must return 442 billion euros to the ECB which it had lent them for a year," he said. "That would be a possible start for the gradual exit, whereby we'll smooth the transition," he added.

    Whether it came to this would depend both on the economic recovery and how money supply developed, he said.

    "The global crisis is not over yet, on the contrary, we're still right in the midst of a new critical phase," Stark added, noting that "the danger has not yet passed that banks might start not to trust each other and to not lend each other money.

    The Frankfurt-based ECB's main lending rate is currently at a record low of one percent.

    (Reporting by Dave Graham; editing by Jason Webb)