According to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann central banks could do more to curb global warming. In an op-ed for the “Financial Times” he pointed out a number of possible courses of action. However, he added, central banks should stay focused on their primary objective, price stability. “When it comes to saving the planet, central banks do not have a magic wand”, he wrote.

The Bundesbank invited civil society organisations to a virtual event in order to listen to their views on issues relating to the Eurosystem’s monetary policy strategy. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann thanked the participants for their contributions and announced that he would raise the insights gained in the ECB Governing Council’s deliberations.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann believes all institutions have a duty to ask themselves how they can contribute to combating climate change within the framework of their mandate. “I am convinced that we all can do more to mitigate climate change, without risking conflict with our very own tasks. And we should do more,” Mr Weidmann said in a speech delivered virtually in Frankfurt.

German economic output declined in the third quarter of 2018 for the first time in three and a half years. “This decline is primarily due to a drop in output in the automotive sector,” explained Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann at an event in Berlin.

At its monetary policy meeting on 23 January, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to review its monetary policy strategy. Alongside the national central banks, this newly launched process will also engage with the general public and civil society.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says that the ECB Governing Council has gone too far with its comprehensive package of monetary policy easing. “All I can say is that I will do what I can to ensure that interest rate increases are not put off for any longer than necessary,” he pledged in an interview with Germany’s “BILD-Zeitung” newspaper.

Speaking at a symposium, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said an official farewell to Claudia Buch and Joachim Wuermeling, both of whom had left the Executive Board on 31 December 2023. Claudia Buch had been Vice-President of the Bundesbank since 2014 and Joachim Wuermeling had been an Executive Board member since 2016. 

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says financing conditions play a crucial role on the road to price stability, but there’s more to it than just glancing at the indicators. If those indicators flag changes, he states, the job of central banks is to analyse exactly how those changes came about. “I believe that financing terms should be able to evolve in line with the economic recovery in the euro area. It’s not a matter of using monetary policy to cement a particular interest rate level,” Mr Weidmann said in a speech delivered virtually in Frankfurt.

Economic activity in Germany has slowed down significantly. Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meeting in Washington, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann noted that economic growth in 2019 will lag far behind potential output growth of 1.5%.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann does not believe that the uncertainty generated by trade disputes has thus far had any lasting impact on the global economy. Speaking on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Bali, he said that the slight slowdown in growth, especially that observed in European countries, is probably due to the normalisation of expansion rather than a consequence of the trade conflict.