European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is heavily criticized right before his planned resignation, The Economist reported.
Not long ago it was hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about Draghi. He is credited with saving the euro by pledging, in the depths of a crisis in 2012, to do "whatever it takes" to stop the currency from breaking up.
He seemed certain to leave office at the end of October to gushing tributes and an assured place in the pantheon of Europe’s great leaders. Instead, his critics are out in force.
Their fury was aroused by the stimulus package Draghi unveiled on September 12, which included cutting interest rates from -0.4% to -0.5% and resuming quantitative easing, the purchase of bonds with newly created money. In the hope of reviving inflation, the bank has pledged to keep rates low and continue buying bonds until underlying inflation returns to its target of "close to, but below, 2%".
At least seven members of its 25-strong rate-setting body, including the central-bank governors of France and Germany, opposed restarting quantitative easing. Head of the Dutch central bank Klaas Knot called it "disproportionate".
