Just 2 weeks ago Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said "The euro's level is not yet dramatic - German exporters are performing "brilliantly'' and we don't need to take any political measures'' - which lowered the dollar even more... today however one of Schroeder´s economic advisers said the following:
Quote:
Peter Bofinger, a member of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's council of economic advisers, said the European Central Bank should sell euros to stem the currency's advance against the U.S. dollar, which threatens to derail Germany's recovery from three years of stagnation.
``The question is whether one must accept exchange-rate movements like a natural disaster or whether one has monetary policy instruments at one's disposal to do something about it,'' Bofinger said in an interview. ``Foreign-exchange market intervention is a very efficient instrument.''
The ECB hasn't sold euros to weaken the currency since it was introduced in January 1999. Policymakers are relying on ``verbal intervention'' rather than signaling their resolve to act in currency markets, economists including Harvinder Kalirai, market analyst in Sydney at State Street Corp., have said.
ECB council member John Hurley said today in an interview policy makers are ``disappointed'' about the slower-than-expected pace of economic growth in the region. Sudden movements in exchange rates ``are damaging to economic growth,'' he said.
The euro-region's $9 trillion economy is slowing as the currency's appreciation to a record against the dollar hurts earnings prospects for exporters including Siemens AG. The euro climbed to $1.3047 today, the highest since the currency's introduction in 1999....
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...4&refer=germany
Maybe germany will come around - maybe there is hope they will get their politics together, and not play that "head in the sand" game in hope that voters will not noticed that their jobs are moving away from the eurozone...