Germany
Eichel insists Germany will lower deficit
The EU's Stability and Growth Pact received some much needed support with Germany's Finance Minister Hans Eichel on Tuesday insisting that Germany would ensure its budget deficit next year came in below 3pc of GDP.
Bundesbank may sell some of its gold
The Bundesbank may sell some of its US$35 billion of gold to buy more profitable assets, executive board member Hans-Helmut Kotz said. In April we reported that Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke said that the international agreement limiting gold sales…
ECB worried inflation hasn't slowed with economy
The European Central Bank is concerned that inflation in the euro zone hasn't slowed as much as growth has this year, Chief Economist and Executive Board member Otmar Issing said in a newspaper interview.
Solans on the performance of the ECB
SPEECH - In the speech 'Some thoughts on the performance of the ECB' Eugenio Domingo Solans of the ECB said the ECB is almost five years old. But in that five years the Eurosystem has become a fully-fledged central bank which formulates and implements a…
Greenspan - Fed has monetary tools left if needed
Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday that war worries were "a very large hurdle" hindering the recovery but that once these concerns were out of the way the economy should rebound. He also called on Germany and Japan to increase efforts to deregulate their…
Welteke says risks to economic growth are high
Bundesbank chief Ernst Welteke implied the ECB may be close to easing interest rates. Speaking in Stockholm he said that the euro zone economy had risks on the downside and that low growth posed more of a threat than inflation.
Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly Report, October 2002
REPORT - Germany's central bank, on 14 November published its Monthly Report for October 2002. The Bundesbank said in its monthly report that gross domestic product grew by just 0.25 percent between July and September, compared to 0.3 percent expansion…
Bundesbank chief gives backing to EU growth pact
GERMANY - Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke, who sits on the ECB's interest rate setting council, throws his support behind the stability and growth pact which was labelled "stupid" by Romano Prodi recently. "The increasingly open attacks on the pact…
German coins make their mark in the eurozone
GERMANY - Though recent surveys suggest many Germans want their old marks back, it looks like German minted euro coins are poised to flood across borders. Because a third of all euro coins are produced with German national images on the reverse some…
Eurozone rate cut hopes boosted by ECB report
GERMANY - The ECB's monthly bulletin released Thursday appeared to increase the likelihood of a future rate reduction on the back of comments made by Win Duisenberg last week.
EU disciplines Germany over deficit, warns France
BELGIUM - The European Commission publicly censured Germany and France over their budgets on Wednesday, saying Berlin would exceed EU deficit limits this year and Paris risked following suit next year.
ECB sticks to rates decision
SWITZERLAND - European Central Bank board member Eugenio Domingo Solans stressed the ECB's independence Monday and said it will not be pressured into cutting rates by political leaders in euro zone member states.
Germany braces for budget criticism
GERMANY - Germany is facing the threat of a formal reprimand from the European Commission for its growing budget deficit.
ECB refuses to join Fed rate cut for now
GERMANY - The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, opting not to join the U.S. Federal Reserve in monetary easing aimed at propping up the faltering global economy.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
Euro rises above $1 mark in trading
GERMANY - The euro rose above a dollar Tuesday and hit its highest level against the U.S. currency in more than three months amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery may be faltering.
Eurozone inflation climbs to 2.2% in October
GERMANY - Inflation in the Eurozone continued to climb in October according to the estimate released on Thursday by Eurostat, the European Commission's Statistical Office.
Don't use stability pact as scapegoat, says Issing
GERMANY - The chief economist of the European Central Bank launched a staunch defence of the euro area fiscal stability and growth pact on Monday, accusing politicians of using it as a "scapegoat" for their own failures.
Second ECB Central Banking Conference
CONFERENCE - The transformation of the European financial system, Frankfurt, 24 and 25 October 2002.
'Recovery may be slower' - ECB's Vanhala
GERMANY - European Central Bank (ECB) governing council member Matti Vanhala said Monday that the euro-zone economic recovery may be slower than expected, but an ECB rate cut was unlikely to boost demand significantly.
ECB takes authority over foreign currency reserves
GERMANY - The European Central Bank (ECB) confirmed Monday, the Irish Times reported, that it must give permission before any euro-zone state can raid its own foreign currency reserves to ease domestic borrowing requirements.
Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly Report, September 2002
REPORT - Germany's central bank, on 16 October published its Monthly Report for September 2002. The report shows a further increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year, although the rise on the first quarter remained…
How fiscal and monetary policy stifle the eurozone
ARTICLE - For Wim Duisenberg yesterday (10 October), attack was the best form of defence. Explaining the European Central Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 3.25 per cent, despite the dark clouds gathering over Europe's economy and…
Speech by Ernst Welteke of the Bundesbank, 24 Sep
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Financial market disturbances: a challenge for monetary policy' Welteke said central bankers are a cautious lot. They do not easily buy into market euphoria nor do they buy into gloomy scenarios. To contain financial market…