ECB's Visco says important for policies to remain accommodating

MILAN (Reuters) - It is important not to withdraw too early the policies put in place by governments and central banks to counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said on Friday.

Visco, who is also the governor of the Bank of Italy, told Bloomberg Television the economy would not return to the situation pre-dating the virus crisis for another couple of years.

"Policies have to remain extremely accommodating on the fiscal side as well as on the monetary side as we're prepared to do for the euro area as a whole," Visco said.

"We are here to consider the risks of stop and go and we will have to avoid too early withdrawals of policies. The exit from emergency measures is one issue that we have discussed a little bit at G20 and IMF meetings but this will be a measure issue for the Italian presidency of the next G20," he added.

(Reporting by Valentina Za and Crispian Balmer)