Former Bank of England (BOE) member and current President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics Adam Posen said Germany's economic policy is causing problems in the global economy and in effect ripping off Europe.
In statements on CNBC, Posen said Germany is not rewarding its workforce for its productivity and subsidising its exports by a weak euro.
"First, it doesn't pay its workers anything in commensurate with the productivity that they have, thereby cheating its own workforce. Second, it never invests anything in the public sector or in the private sector. Third, those two combined means it's competing as a low wage economy," he said.
"Fourth, it rips off Europe and the rest of the world in that it gets a subsidy to its exports from a weaker euro, than the Deutschmark would be, because of the weakness of other countries. And fifth, it tries to grab market share when there's lots of unemployment in the world thereby exporting deflation."
The harsh criticism occurs as the European Commission considers whether to investigate Germany over its excessive current account surplus and for not boosting domestic demand, which are negatively affecting the rest of the region.
Source: LiveCharts
In statements on CNBC, Posen said Germany is not rewarding its workforce for its productivity and subsidising its exports by a weak euro.
"First, it doesn't pay its workers anything in commensurate with the productivity that they have, thereby cheating its own workforce. Second, it never invests anything in the public sector or in the private sector. Third, those two combined means it's competing as a low wage economy," he said.
"Fourth, it rips off Europe and the rest of the world in that it gets a subsidy to its exports from a weaker euro, than the Deutschmark would be, because of the weakness of other countries. And fifth, it tries to grab market share when there's lots of unemployment in the world thereby exporting deflation."
The harsh criticism occurs as the European Commission considers whether to investigate Germany over its excessive current account surplus and for not boosting domestic demand, which are negatively affecting the rest of the region.
Source: LiveCharts
