Portugal's PM welcomes ECB's new stimulus program

Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho welcomed on Friday the European Central Bank (ECB)'s new stimulus program.

The ECB on Thursday decided to start a large scale quantitative easing program and pump over one trillion euros into the euro zone economy in a bid to address risks of deflation.

"This financing by the ECB is not for governments nor for states, it is for banks and for the economy," said Passos Coelho, in Montalegre, around 480 km north of capital Lisbon, according to Portuguese media reports.

Opposition Socialist leader Antonio Costa condemned the program on Thursday, describing it as a "heavy defeat" for the Portuguese government.

However, Passos Coelho insisted that there had "never been contradictions" and referred to the Socialist Party claims as fruit of "great confusion."

He said the long-awaited move had been widely expected as Europe ran risks of deflation.

"We are facing a period of deflation and that is of no interest to us. The ECB, which conducts the monetary policy, will intervene in the market exactly to avoid that a situation of deflation is maintained," he said.

Passos Coelho also said Portugal was facing a "very big challenge" due to the economy being in an "almost stagnated" state "at a euro zone area level."

ECB President Mario Draghi said in Brussels on Thursday that in light of Europe's growth and debt problems, monetary policy alone would not be sufficient but created the basis for growth.

The ECB's announcement surpassed investors' expectations, as the bank announced it will buy 60 billion euros of assets a month from March this year until September 2016, totalling 1.1 trillion euros in that period.

Mario Draghi said there would be space for the program to be extended, adding that the purchases would continue until the ECB's inflation goal of just under 2 percent over the medium term. Enditem