Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann believes that financial stability must not be adopted as an additional monetary policy objective on a par with price stability. This would put the credibility of central banks at risk, he explained at a Bundesbank symposium. Monetary policy was not a suitable instrument for safeguarding financial stability. Renowned economists then discussed the interaction between monetary policy and financial stability.

From the point of view of Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, there is no need to loosen the accommodative monetary policy any further. In remarks delivered at the third cash symposium of the Deutsche Bundesbank, he noted that, instead, the forces of growth in the euro area needed to be strengthened and that the measures already introduced should be given time to unleash their impact.

The October 2023 edition of the Monthly Report examines whether German and euro area price competitiveness is favourable. It also describes how state government finances developed in 2022 and finds that, despite large surpluses overall, recourse to emergency loans was extensive in some cases.

Implementing a minimum exchange rate regime by buying foreign currency eases monetary conditions domestically and may thus have a direct impact on the inflation rate. However, such foreign currency purchases involve a risky expansion of the central bank’s balance sheet total. A new model can now predict what expansion of the balance sheet a central bank must expect if it wishes to implement a minimum exchange rate in the foreign exchange market.