- Capital Economics
German politicians and officials have repeatedly brutally castigated the European Central Bank for its monetary policy, with the latest critics coming from the outspoken German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. Central banks in Europe and the US must gradually abandon easy-money policies, Mr Schaeuble said. He also partly blamed the ECB's policy for the success of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) in recent regional elections. Mr Schaeuble and ECB President Mario Draghi will probably hold talks in Washington this week. G-20 policy makers will meet from April 14-15, with finance ministers and central-bank governors from 188 countries gathering from April 15-17 for the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank to discuss how to revive weak global growth.
In March the ECB unveiled a large stimulus package that included bringing the deposit rate deeper into negative territory, expanding asset purchases and offering free loans to the corporate sector to stimulate growth. The Euro zone economy expanded at a weaker pace in March than first estimated. The preliminary measure of activity in the manufacturing and services sectors pointed to a recovery as the first quarter drew to a close. Yet the final composite purchasing managers' index last week showed a less encouraging story, indicating that first-quarter activity climbed at the slowest pace since the final three months of 2014.
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