German cooperative banks call on ECB to refrain from further monetary easing

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-29 05:53:50|Editor: yan
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FRANKFURT, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- German cooperative banks called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to refrain from any further monetary easing, which is likely to be determined in September, German media Handelsblatt reported Wednesday.

Further steps by the ECB would bring less and less new impetus to economy of the euro area, while the "harmful side effects" would increase, said Andreas Martin, board member of the National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR), which covers nearly 900 Germany's local cooperative banks.

The ECB has kept the benchmark interest rate, or the interest rate on the main refinancing operations for the euro area, at a record low of zero percent since March 2016.

Depositors are the main victims of the extremely low interest rate environment, which makes traditional banking business much more difficult as well.

Within the euro zone, incoming economic data over the past months have mostly been on the soft side, and the ECB has opened doors for monetary easing after its policy meeting in July.

The market generally believed the ECB is poised for a stimulus package in its next meeting in September.

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