No central bank takes kindly to politicians tampering with their business, and the ECB is no exception. In advance of its long-awaited rate cut this week, the ECB was told by Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders to be more active: "It is about time for the ECB to do something." If ECB board members read the newspapers, and Newsmakers expects it does, they hardly need Reynders (who has been rumoured to have designs on Duisenberg's job himself, but stands no chance) to tell them this.

The IMF