Students from various countries discussed Europe and European monetary union with Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Klaas Knot, President of De Nederlandsche Bank, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has underscored the importance of central banks’ independence to their success. “In order to defend their independence, central banks should interpret their mandates narrowly and seek the support of the broad public,” he said in a speech he delivered in Pretoria.

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries will be meeting in Baden-Baden on 17 and 18 March. Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann will report on the outcomes of the meeting at a press conference to be held afterwards.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has thanked Joachim Nagel for his work in the Bundesbank's Executive Board. Nagel left the Executive Board at the end of April 2016 and, with effect from 1 November 2016, has taken on the post of General Manager of KfW.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann believes that the Eurosystem should use the pre-crisis toolkit as a benchmark for monetary policy normalisation. In remarks made in Frankfurt am Main, Weidmann said: “If and how monetary policy should adapt its toolbox can only be assessed after we have progressed on the path of normalisation.”

The Bundesbank is not distributing a profit to the Federal Government for 2020 – for the first time since 1979. The main reason was the greater level of risk provisioning, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann explained at the press conference to present the annual accounts in Frankfurt am Main. In the previous year, the Bundesbank distributed a profit of €5.9 billion. On the whole, the emergency monetary policy measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic are having a noticeable impact on the Bundesbank’s balance sheet. 

BKann die Geldpolitik die Ungleichheit bei Einkommen und Vermögen verringern? Welche Rolle können Notenbanken bei der Bewältigung des Klimawandels spielen? Und wie kann die Bundesbank junge Menschen besser erreichen? Bei der digitalen Ausgabe von Euro20+ beantwortete Bundesbankpräsident Jens Weidmann viele durchaus kritische Fragen der über 100 Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer.

According to the Bundesbank’s latest projections, the German economy will gradually emerge from its current lull. They indicate that, although calendar-adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow by only around ½% next year, as it did this year, 2021 and 2022 could each see distinctly stronger growth of just under 1½%.

The Bundesbank will be hosting its third cash symposium on 13 June. Senior representatives from the business community, civil society and academia will be convening there for an exchange on cash-related matters. Speakers include Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, former President of the Federal Constitutional Court Hans-Jürgen Papier and philosopher Richard David Precht.