# Blog

Why we should not blame the ECB for low returns on German savings

the fall in inflation and in real returns is behind the dramatic decline in interest rates over the past 3 decades The ECB has lowered its official interest rate several times in the last years and the rate is now...

9th May 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2770 views

# Blog

European banking supervisor should limit banks’ exposure to all eurozone governments, not just Greece

– The ECB’s quantitative easing programme provides the right conditions for introducing exposure limits On March 25 Europe’s new watchdog for banks, The Single Supervisory Mechanism, imposed limits on Greek banks’ ...

1st April 2015 by Guntram Wolff 3937 views

# Blog

The Greek banking system: a tragedy in the making?

As the ECB has decided to discontinue allowing Greek government bonds to be used as collateral in normal ECB refinancing operations, attention is fully back on the Greek banking system.[ref]The European Central Bank’s Go...

6th February 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2968 views

# Interviews

«Alexis Tsipras doit être conscient de ce qu’il peut ou non demander»

3rd February 2015 by Guntram Wolff 16238 views

# Blog

Greece and the euro area need a deal within days, not months

International press informs us that the Greek government believes it has weeks or perhaps months to negotiate a new deal with its creditors. The basic idea of the new Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is that Greec...

2nd February 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2634 views

# Blog

The ECB has fired its bazooka

The ECB announced today an expansion of its asset purchases, to include securities issued by European agencies and institutions, as well as central government in the euro area. Purchases are intended to be continued unti...

22nd January 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2409 views

# Blog

The ECB’s bond-purchase dilemma

German opposition to government-bond purchases by the European Central Bank is solidifying ahead of the programme’s likely announcement on January 22. Elections in Greece that could bring a government that will seek to n...

21st January 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2508 views

# Blog

Die EZB ist verpflichtet, ihr Mandat zu erfüllen

Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) wird wohl am 22. Januar ein Ankaufprogramm für Staatsanleihen ankündigen. Die Sorgen über die Auswirkungen und die Effektivität des Programms sind groß. Die EZB muss vorsichtig die Koste...

19th January 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2731 views

# Blog

Sovereign QE and national central banks

Inflation continues to fall. The first outright deflation numbers since 2009 have been recorded and inflation expectations are clearly dis-anchored. Inflation and inflation expectations are now clearly below the 1.7 to 1...

13th January 2015 by Guntram Wolff 2588 views

# Blog

How can Europe escape recession in 2015?

2014 will be remembered for two major unexpected developments. First, the European Union was caught by surprise by the return of geopolitics. The annexation of Crimea, the military conflict in Ukraine and the increasing ...

23rd December 2014 by Guntram Wolff 3148 views