Wellink says ECB should stop buying debt paper - report

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should stop its current policy of buying sovereign debt paper because the risks are becoming too big, ECB Governing Council member Nout Wellink was quoted on Friday as saying.

"We can simply continue to print more money. It is not good but it is possible. But we have to stop the current policy because the risks are becoming too big," Wellink was quoted as saying in Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad.

"We are buying paper from banks, from the private sector, and from governments. That is not what we are on earth for. If things turn bad the value decline is for our account," he was cited as saying.

The comment from Wellink, who is also Dutch central bank president, followed his statements on Thursday when he warned global inflation was picking up and the boundaries of easy monetary policy had been reached.

"I am in favour of a quick winding down of ECB support," the paper cited Wellink as saying.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger)