ECB’s Lagarde pushes back on gloomy forecasts, sticks to recovery outlook

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde pushed back on Wednesday against economic pessimism, arguing that a rebound will come as pandemic uncertainty declines and that Europe possesses all the tools needed to overcome the crisis.

Even with much of the 19-member euro area in lockdown, Lagarde continued to predict a recovery, provided that economic restrictions can be lifted from the second quarter and the bloc can overcome a "laborious" start to vaccinations.

Only last month, the ECB cut its growth forecast to 3.9% this year but increasingly widespread curbs on movement and activity in countries including Germany and France, along with the slow rollout of vaccines, are already challenging that outlook, just two weeks into 2021.

"I think our last projections in December are still very clearly plausible," Lagarde said in an interview at the Reuters Next...

Continue reading on: