Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Concil member Ewald Nowotny said it is necessary to retain government bonds as a risk-free asset and counter a general skepticism against sovereign debt.

There is “rising mistrust in certain nations when it comes to their refinancing, but there also is a general attitude that is more critical toward the asset class government debt,” Nowotny told reporters in Vienna.

“This is very problematic because every economy needs risk-free assets as a basis for its financial industry,” he added. “We have to do everything we can to make sure we keep this asset class.”

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