ECB Should Fix Date to End QE

The European Central Bank should set a date to end its asset-buying program, the head of Germany’s Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, told Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Reuters reported. Tipped as a potential candidate to succeed ECB President Mario Draghi when his term expires at the end of October 2019, Weidmann is a vocal critic of the bank’s quantitative easing program. “The prospects for the evolution of prices correspond to a return of inflation to a level sufficient to maintain the stability of prices. For this reason, in my opinion, it would be justifiable to put a clear end to the buying of debt bonds by establishing a concrete date (for ending the program),” Weidmann said. The ECB has pledged to continue buying bonds at least until September. But with economic growth in the eurozone on its best run in a decade and inflation comfortably above 1%, it is widely expected to wind down the program thereafter.