- Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank President
Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, revised the Euro zone's Q1 and Q2 growth, as it started to use new statistical methodology. Gross domestic product grew 0.3% and 0.1% in the beginning of the year up from the initial figure, which showed flat growth. Likewise, annual growth for the currency bloc was revised to 0.8% in the second quarter from 0.7%.
Meanwhile, German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann reiterated his disagreement with the European Central Bank's recent decision to buy large sums of asset-backed securities, a form of quantitative easing, highlighting that the programme hampers efforts made in banking regulation and will do little to support the weak Euro zone's economy. Weidmann stressed that the Euro area's economic stagnation was due to structural factors rather than monetary policy. The Bundesbank Head also warned that the ECB's plan would only serve to transfer risks from financial institutions to the central bank and, ultimately, taxpayers. Last month, the ECB unveiled a programme to purchase asset-backed securities, with an effort to raise money supply and boost credit flow to the private sector. Although the ECB has refused to liken its ABS programme to quantitative easing, it will have a similar effect of increasing liquidity in the market.
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