FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – Policymakers at the European Central Bank disagreed at their last meeting over how big a threat turmoil in China and other emerging markets posed to Europe’s modest economic recovery.
The written summary of the Dec. 3 meeting released Thursday also shows members of the 25-member governing council took different views on inflation data as the bank struggles to push inflation up closer to its goal of just under 2 percent.
The result of the debate was a decision to add less stimulus than many market participants had expected. The ECB cut its deposit rate for funds held by banks by 0.10 percentage point and extended its bond-buying stimulus program.
Some member thought that worries about China, a key export market for the 19-country eurozone, “had not been borne out.”