European Central Bank board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in La Repubblica newspaper that the ECB's interest rates are at historical lows. In an interview, the recently-appointed Bini Smaghi said that in recent times, rates have never been so low, and you have to go back to Germany in the 19th century to find such low rates. "The interest rates of the eurozone today are at historical minimums. Corrected for inflation they are practically close to zero or negative," he said in the interview. "Also in the last two years, while official rates have remained constant at 2 pct, market rates have continued to fall," he said. "There is an abundance of liquidity, but family and companies are not taking full benefit because they don't have confidence," he said. "Increased liquidity in this context would not help a lot. In fact it could be damaging because it would accelerate the rise property prices," he said. Bini Smaghi was answering the newspaper's question on whether current ECB interest rates are appropriate.