At its meeting in Riga, Latvia, on 14 June 2018, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to end its asset purchases, most likely at the end of 2018. Subject to incoming data confirming the Governing Council’s medium-term inflation outlook, purchases are set to initially be halved to €15 billion per month as from October 2018 and then be discontinued entirely at the end of the year.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has come out in favour of swiftly ending net asset purchases in the euro area. In a speech held at the Centre for European Economic Research, Mr Weidmann focused, in particular, on the importance of communication in the context of monetary policy decisions. He also said that the latest economic downturn was no reason to delay the necessary normalisation process.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has conflicting views on the United States’ decision to initially exempt the European Union from the recently enacted tariffs on steel and aluminium. Though it avoided an open trade conflict, the agreement reached between the United States and the EU was no victory for international free trade, Mr Weidmann explained during a speech in Vienna.

Agustín Carstens, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, says central banks should pay special attention to the ties linking cryptocurrencies to real currencies. If cryptocurrencies become more interconnected with the main financial system, they could become a threat to financial stability, he said in a lecture delivered in Frankfurt am Main.

In the current issue of the Monthly Report, Bundesbank economists state that an accommodative monetary policy can, in a low-interest-rate setting, put a damper on lending business if commercial banks hold only a small amount of capital. In and of itself, such a relationship would counter the desired effects of an accommodative monetary policy.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says the Eurosystem’s asset purchase programme should be discontinued this year if growth in consumer price inflation remains upbeat. Speaking to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said he is confident that the Eurosystem is on a path towards its target inflation rate of below, but close to, 2%.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has cautioned against increasing mutual liability in the euro area and thus weakening the principle of individual national responsibility. Addressing an audience in Frankfurt am Main, Mr Weidmann said that while the fiscal rescue measures had prevented the crisis from escalating, they had not made the euro area permanently crisis-proof.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, advocated strengthening inclusive growth. Leaving everything to the markets has failed, he said in a lecture held at the invitation of the Bundesbank at the Goethe University in Frankfurt.