German Central Banker Weidmann Will not Back Down

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann Tuesday reaffirmed his opposition to the European Central Bank’s latest bond-purchasing plans by stressing that his outspokenness will help reassure the public that the euro will remain a stable currency.

“It’s important…that central bankers, who administer a public good–stable money–also publicly justify themselves,” he told the audience of a banking congress, according to the text of a prepared speech.

Weidmann has repeatedly argued that the ECB is acting beyond its mandate to keep prices stable by effectively printing money to finance government deficits. By contrast, ECB President Mario Draghi said last week that the plan is “strictly within our mandate.”

Central banks’ independence is a prerequisite that “monetary policy can concentrate, without hindrance, on keeping the monetary value stable,” he said.

But Weidmann, who is a key member of the ECB’s rate-setting governing council, said that the “best protection against the temptations in monetary policy is an enlightened and stability-oriented society.”

via WSJ

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