Top ECB official resigns after questioning stimulus

FRANKFURT – A member of the European Central Bank’s top leadership has resigned after publicly questioning the need for the bank’s latest stimulus efforts.

The ECB said in a statement on Wednesday that Sabine Lautenschlaeger would leave her post on the bank’s six-member executive board at the end of the month, more than two years before the end of her eight-year term.

The statement did not say why she was resigning.

Lautenschlaeger had questioned the need for more bond-purchase stimulus before a Sept. 12 meeting. The bank decided to launch such a program at the meeting.

Lautenschlaeger is from Germany, where the ECB’s stimulus policies have been criticized for propping up less financially solid governments and depriving savers of interest earnings.

The ECB sets monetary policy for the 19 countries that use the euro currency.