(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said that there's less leeway for monetary policy to react to the current slowdown in the euro area economy, and that policy makers shouldn't rush to put off plans to exit from ultra-low interest-rates.
“Recent German economic data are no cause for euphoria,” Weidmann said during a press conference following Group of 20 meetings in Fukuoka, Japan. Despite the economic slowdown there's no need to discuss stimulus, he said.
Weidmann's comments run counter to the tone set by ECB President Mario Draghi following the central bank's policy meeting in Vilnius this month. Officials there raised the prospect of restarting quantitative easing bond purchases or cutting interest rates further, as they rolled out a fresh round of long-term loans known as TLTROs in response to an economic outlook darkened by the U.S.-driven trade war.
The “Governing Council revised its forecasts -- this monetary-policy reaction was appropriate and decided unanimously,” Weidmann said. “The low interest rate environment is associated with risk. Monetary policy normalization shouldn't be unnecessarily postponed.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Birgit Jennen in Fukuoka at bjennen1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, Brett Miller
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