BLBG:Merkel Says Euro Between $1.30 and $1.40 Shows ‘Normality’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed attempts to manipulate exchange rates, saying the present value of the euro against the dollar is within the currency’s normal range.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin today, acknowledged concerns over the euro’s strength in southern European countries which have been “at pains to lower their labor unit costs in a fixed exchange rate regime” only to see the gains “melt away like the snow in the sun under certain conditions.”
“On the other hand, we have to say that euro exchange rates between $1.30 and $1.40 are part of the normality of the history of the euro,” she told an event marking 50 years of the German government’s council of economic advisers.
The euro bought $1.3375 as of 12:57 p.m. in Berlin.
Merkel expressed concern last month over Japanese moves toward monetary easing. Officials from the Group of 20 nations meeting in Moscow last week pledged not “to target our exchange rates for competitive purposes,” without singling out Japan for allowing the yen to decline.
Merkel said that the G-20 finance ministers had sent an “important signal,” and that the full G-20 summit in September will assess progress in adhering to the statement.
“We want exchange rates to be set freely, but also advocate that all respect that,” Merkel said. “We have time until September when there is the meeting of the heads of state to see whether everyone has held his promise.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Parkin at bparkin@bloomberg.net; Rainer Buergin in Moscow via at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
