The accession of Lithuania as the euro area’s 19th member state as from the beginning of 2015 will trigger a new voting procedure, in which the voting rights of the national central bank (NCB) governors at ECB Governing Council meetings will rotate. This is designed to ensure that decisions can still be taken efficiently in future, too.

Der Rat der Europäischen Zentralbank hat am 10. März eine Reihe geldpolitischer Maßnahmen beschlossen, um für einen stärkeren Preisauftrieb im Euro-Raum zu sorgen. Die Notenbanken im Eurosystem weiten danach ihr Anleihekauf­programm aus, auch die Leitzinsen werden weiter gesenkt.

Dr Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank

Dr Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Speech at the American Council on Germany

Selon le président de la Deutsche Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, le commerce international favorise la diffusion d'idées nouvelles ainsi que de produits meilleurs et augmente la productivité, ce qui entraîne habituellement une hausse des salaires. "Les économies ouvertes ont par conséquent un niveau de vie plus élevé que celles qui sont fermées", a déclaré M. Weidmann dans l’hebdomadaire "Focus". Il a par ailleurs indiqué que l'Allemagne allait s’engager à ce que le G20 maintienne son attachement en faveur de marchés ouverts avec une concurrence loyale.

Following the severe recession in the first half of this year, the German economy is likely to recover again. According to current Bundesbank projections, economic output will contract by 7% in 2020, yet in the next two years, real gross domestic product (GDP) could then increase by 3 to 4% per year.

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States together form the G7, an informal gathering of the most important industrial economies. The heads of state or government as well as the finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 nations meet regularly to exchange views and opinions and to coordinate joint policy positions.

An improved net result of financial operations, write-downs and risk provisioning caused a slight increase in the Bundesbank's profit in 2015. At the same time, the Bundesbank's net interest income was lower than at any time since monetary union was launched.