German cabinet approves Nagel as Bundesbank president – spokesperson

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German cabinet has approved the appointment of Joachim Nagel, a career central banker with ties to the ruling Social Democrats, as the new president of the Bundesbank, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said on Wednesday.

Nagel will take over on Jan. 1 from Jens Weidmann, who quit five years early after long-standing opposition to the European Central Bank’s stimulus policy of sub-zero interest rates and massive purchases of government bonds.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner had earlier this week proposed the 55-year-old economist to take over the euro zone’s biggest national central bank.

The appointment comes at a time when inflation is more than twice the ECB’s 2% target, and opposing camps within the ECB’s Governing Council have distinctly different views on its likely evolution.

(Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Maria Sheahan)