by Mike Meyer
Daily Pfennig
Imagine taking out a mortgage from your local bank. But, when it comes time to make a payment, you don’t have to pay any interest. Instead, the bank pays you. Do you like the sound of that?
Crazy as that sounds, it’s actually happening in some European countries. Welcome to the bizarre world of negative interest rate policy or NIRP.
See, ever since the 2008 global recession, central banks around the world have implemented monetary policies designed to stimulate the economy. They started with ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and QE (quantitative easing). These policies were supposed to push banks to lend more money, encourage consumers to spend rather than save, and weaken local currencies to help exports.