ECB has minor impact on inequality - Lane

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's monetary policy has relatively little impact on inequality, Philip Lane, the bank's chief economist said, responding in part to criticism that large scale asset buys widen the social gap.

"From a broader perspective, we should also bear in mind that the contribution of monetary policy to changes in inequality is small, compared with the role of fiscal policy, especially the degree of redistribution in the design of the tax and transfer systems, and structural economic trends," Lane said in Dublin.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Catherine Evans)