ECB's Draghi takes swipe at IMF over policy recommendations

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi swatted away suggestions from the International Monetary Fund that his bank should ease monetary policy further on Thursday, questioning the timing of the Fund's most recent comments. "The IMF has been of recent extremely generous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do, and we are really thankful for that," Draghi told a news conference after the ECB's monthly policy meeting. "Frankly, I would like the IMF to be as generous as they have been towards us also with other monetary policy jurisdictions, like for example issuing statements just the day before a (U.S. Federal Reserve) meeting would take place," he said. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday called on the ECB to ease monetary policy to move prices higher, saying "lowflation" in advanced economies risked undercutting an already sluggish global recovery. The ECB left its policies unchanged on Thursday. (Reporting by Hugh Lawson; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)