PARIS (AFP) – The eurozone is not showing signs of economic stagnation despite the fallout from the war in Ukraine, European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Christine Lagarde said yesterday.
The conflict fuelled increases in already-high energy prices and threatened to worsen a global supply chain crunch, raising concerns that economies could face stagflation – a period of high inflation but weak growth.
“We do not currently see elements of stagnation,” Lagarde said at a conference at the Institut Montaigne think tank in Paris.
“Given the recovery that was underway, we do not see stagnation of the economy in 2022, neither in 2023 nor in 2024,” she said.
The global economy was recovering from the Covid pandemic before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Earlier this month, the ECB cut its eurozone growth outlook as it expects the recovery to be slowed down by the war. It also raised its inflation outlook.
