BERLIN (Reuters) – German central bank chief Jens Weidmann said he is worried at the prospect of the European Central Bank’s low-interest-rate environment being extended for too long, adding that his experts anticipated inflation nearing 5% in Germany later this year.
Weidmann was one of just two people on the ECB’s 25-member Governing Council to oppose a new interest rates guidance on Thursday, even if the topic generated unusually intense debate.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine, extracts of which were published on Friday evening, Weidmann said that the ECB’s Governing Council agreed in principle that expansive monetary policy was appropriate for now.
“My experts expect inflation in Germany to be heading in the direction of 5% at the end of 2021,” he told the newspaper.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt)
