Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, head of
the Institute for Works of Religion, the Vatican state bank which
manages the accounts of major Catholic religious orders, said private
savings should be used to boost growth instead of cutting debt.
"If
resources have to be taken away from families, why not immediately use
them to promote economic growth? Why use them to reduce debt?... It is
1,000 times better to use them for growth," Gotti Tedeschi told Vatican
radio.
In another interview with the Vatican official daily
Osservatore Romano on Monday, Gotti Tedeschi criticised the European
bailouts as "inflationary manoeuvres to reduce debt and uncertainty"
that were ultimately "harmful".
"By using for example 10 percent
of family savings in a country for healthy and market-leading
medium-sized businesses... it would be possible to put major capital at
the disposal of tens of thousands of companies," he said.
The
pope's banker also criticised the United States for its policy of
"keeping gross domestic product growth high by supporting it with debt."
Major
economic powers should agree "that only a period of austerity, managed
with integrity, can be the real key towards restoring growth," he added.
Pope Benedict XVI has often been critical of financiers, blaming them for helping to the start the global financial crisis.