ECB's Bini Smaghi: Low ECB rate risks distortions

PARIS, March 23 (Reuters) - ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in an interview published on Wednesday that keeping interest rates as low as they are now amounted to a very expansionary policy that risked spurring excessive risk-taking.

The remarks were made in an interview published in French daily Le Monde.

"Interest rates are now lower than inflation, which could be justified when there was a risk of deflation," he was quoted as having told the newspaper.

"Keeping rates so low makes monetary policy very expansionary and risks creating market distortions and encouraging excessive risk-taking by financial institutions," he said.

(Editing by Toby Chopra)