Davos (Switzerland) (EFE).- The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, warned this Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos about inflation, which continues to be “too high” despite the decline experienced in in recent months, which practically allows us to rule out a recession.
Lagarde has lamented that many journalists “emphasize too much in their headlines that inflation has dropped”, despite the fact that it is still at very high levels, for which reason the body that she presides “maintains its mandate to place it at 2%”.
In Europe, the subject of the debate in which the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, have also participated, Lagarde has indicated that activity “is falling compared to 2022” but it is better than expected I expected.
It is possible to be more optimistic, he said, although the ECB “is concerned about inflation and also the labor market”, which, however, is in one of the most “dynamic” moments in recent times with very reasonable unemployment rates.
For Dombrovskis, the way to boost growth in Europe is to implement strong fiscal policies and reduce deficits; At a time when “the star” are the economic reactivation plans, it must be taken into account that “70% of the measures are approved without knowing exactly what their destination is”.
The Commissioner for Trade has indicated that “energy prices are subsidized” and good results have been achieved, while investments for the green transition have been accelerated, but we must think about the immediate future.
Europe has been able to do this because “it had its tanks full of gas, Russian among others, something that will not be possible next winter”, so other suppliers will have to be found.
The Dutch prime minister, for his part, has focused on aid for the lowest incomes, which cannot be maintained in the long term because the funds are going to “subsidize the energy of the most disadvantaged families” and it is no longer invest in education or innovation.
Likewise, he has also questioned the payment of pensions “in countries like France or Italy”, which in the same way prevent certain resources from being allocated to more profitable items in the long term.
