Shawdesh desk:

German central bank president Jens Weidmann, a renowned fiscal hawk in Europe, will step down at the end of the year after a decade at the helm, the Frankfurt-based institution said Wednesday.

Weidmann, a European Central Bank member, who was appointed to head the Bundesbank in May 2011, told colleagues in a letter that “after 10 years it is time to begin a new chapter”.

His departure comes as the ECB faces difficult questions over how to tackle rising inflation and when to wind down its massive coronavirus pandemic-era stimulus programme.