The European Central Bank's Invisible Hand

Davies, Gavyn, The Independent (London, England)

"Europe raises interest rates" screamed the headlines and, on the surface, it seemed like business as usual for the Bundesbank last Thursday. The increase of 0.3 per cent in its key repo rate, the first rise in German interest rates for five years, shook the financial markets as in days of old. The rise was explained by the Bundesbank entirely on German domestic grounds. Other central banks dutifully followed, whatever their misgivings about their own economic circumstances. Just another example, it seemed, of the European dog allowing itself to be wagged by the German tail.

But all was not what it seemed. In fact, last Thursday was almost the last hurrah of an …

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Publication information: Article title: The European Central Bank's Invisible Hand. Contributors: Davies, Gavyn - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent (London, England). Publication date: October 13, 1997. Page number: 19. © 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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