NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's bond-buying program should not be discarded too soon as it would be useful as a "safety belt", ECB Governing Council Member Ewald Nowotny said on Wednesday.
"I think it was effective at specific times when needed. It has de facto not been used in many weeks in the recent past," Nowotny, also the head of the Austrian central bank, told Reuters Insider in an interview.
"Therefore it is not a very living program. On the other hand, my personal view would be that it makes sense to use it as a safety belt ... I would not throw it away too early." (Reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by James Dalgleish)