Munich, 3 December. – Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn has criticised the European Central Bank’s (ECB) expansion of its bond buying programme. “The dimensions of the QE Programme are already huge. It has effectively led to a significant depreciation of the euro, which is all that the ECB needs to inflate the European economy in the mid-term, just as it is planning to do”, said Sinn on Thursday in Munich. The impact of this strategy can also already be seen in the core inflation rate, which has risen since the beginning of the year. “Doing even more is going too far, in view of the effects already visible to date. It confirms suspicions that the ECB is more concerned with bailing out ailing states and banks, rather than carrying out monetary policy,” warned Sinn. This, however, is economic policy to which the ECB is not entitled. In fact, the ECB has turned into a bail-out machine that uses its monetary policy goals as a pretext to create the impression that it is still acting within its mandate.
Forthcoming dates:
Ifo Economic Forecast 2016/17 on Wednesday, 9 December in Berlin
Prof. Sinn’s farewell lecture on Monday, 14 December in Munich
Ifo Business Climate Index on Thursday, 17 December
With best wishes
Harald Schultz
Press officer
Tel: 0049 / 89 / 9224-1218
Mobile: 0049 / 151 / 1748 2980
Email: Schultz@ifo.de
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