In the view of Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, the ECB Governing Council’s forward guidance has contributed to lowering long-term interest rates and stimulating the euro area economy. However, at the 2019 European Banking Congress in Frankfurt, he also highlighted the risks and side effects of a highly expansionary monetary policy. ECB President Christine Lagarde called for increased public investment.

The German financial system remains vulnerable to adverse economic developments. Future credit risk could be underestimated and the recoverability of loan collateral such as real estate overestimated. “An unexpected economic downturn and abrupt rise in risk premia could hit Germany’s financial system hard,” Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch explained, adding that a stable financial system should be able to cushion such shocks rather than amplifying them.