Second minister wades into QE row

A second German minister has added his voice to criticism of US economic policy, expressing concern about the recently announced Federal Reserve plans to buy $600bn-worth of government bonds.

Rainer Brüderle, the economy minister, was quoted in German newspapers as saying that the "expansive US monetary policy worries me because excessive monetary expansion is also an indirect manipulation of the dollar's exchange rate".

"It will lead to a devaluation of the currency ... protectionism is not going to help us on the route to having a stable worldwide economy," he added. "Obviously, it is desirable that US economic growth picks up. But I doubt that the economy will be helped on its own by the Fed injecting more money into the economy."

Mr Brüderle's comments follow a pointed attack from Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, who on Friday called America's policy "clueless" and said that so far, the results of pumping money into the economy had been "hopeless".