Klaus Regling at Eurogroup press conference
- 3 years ago
Good evening to all of you from Luxembourg. Let me add a few words from an ESM perspective on our interesting discussion on the economic situation and the outlook. https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/special-debates/future-of-europe/europe-will-weather-this-crisis-together-merkel-macron-initiative/ I can say what I hear from financial market participants; they have, of course, their own forecasts. Some are a bit more pessimistic. Others are more optimistic. I see growth rates between 2.5% and 5.5%. But if I average all that out, it's very similar to the forecast that was released by the Commission last week.
#eudebates #coronavirusitalla #Covid_19 #coronavirus #CoronavirusOutbreak #Corona #COVD19 #Health #EUCO #COVID #Eurogroup #EXITstrategy #Economy #Eurobond #Eurobonds
I also hear that investors are concerned about the speed of the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans and facility. Of course, they are very positive on that decision that was taken last year. But they are worried that delays might affect negatively growth rates. And I think in that sense, it's good that the relevant regulation has been adopted now, and that is good for market confidence. And they will now focus on the speed of disbursement and the quality of the reforms that will be supported by the Next Generation EU. Market participants, in a way, are also waiting for the fiscal guidance that will come from the Commission and the Eurogroup in spring, as the President [of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe] and the Commissioner [Gentiloni] said.
On the international role of the euro, that is, of course, an ongoing debate that has happened many times, but also in the Eurogroup. But the communication issued by the Commission in January, I think, was a very good basis for the discussion today. I have argued for a long time that a stronger international role of the euro would add to the stability of the international, monetary and financial system. During the last decades, we have seen several times that an over-reliance on the US dollar has risks, particularly for emerging markets. We saw that during the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, and also the recent episodes where the dollar was used as a policy tool reminded us that this is not good from a European perspective.
In my view, the international monetary system is gradually, of course very slowly, moving towards a mulit-polar system where three or four currencies will be important. And that would naturally reduce dependence on the dollar. But we should not only look at the dollar, the Chinese currency, the renminbi will likely become one of these global currencies over time. Today the renminbi is still far below the euro's status. But it's moving up and catching up very quickly. Because of the strong growth of the Chinese economy, its weight in the world economy, China will become the biggest economy in the world very soon.
#eudebates #coronavirusitalla #Covid_19 #coronavirus #CoronavirusOutbreak #Corona #COVD19 #Health #EUCO #COVID #Eurogroup #EXITstrategy #Economy #Eurobond #Eurobonds
I also hear that investors are concerned about the speed of the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans and facility. Of course, they are very positive on that decision that was taken last year. But they are worried that delays might affect negatively growth rates. And I think in that sense, it's good that the relevant regulation has been adopted now, and that is good for market confidence. And they will now focus on the speed of disbursement and the quality of the reforms that will be supported by the Next Generation EU. Market participants, in a way, are also waiting for the fiscal guidance that will come from the Commission and the Eurogroup in spring, as the President [of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe] and the Commissioner [Gentiloni] said.
On the international role of the euro, that is, of course, an ongoing debate that has happened many times, but also in the Eurogroup. But the communication issued by the Commission in January, I think, was a very good basis for the discussion today. I have argued for a long time that a stronger international role of the euro would add to the stability of the international, monetary and financial system. During the last decades, we have seen several times that an over-reliance on the US dollar has risks, particularly for emerging markets. We saw that during the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, and also the recent episodes where the dollar was used as a policy tool reminded us that this is not good from a European perspective.
In my view, the international monetary system is gradually, of course very slowly, moving towards a mulit-polar system where three or four currencies will be important. And that would naturally reduce dependence on the dollar. But we should not only look at the dollar, the Chinese currency, the renminbi will likely become one of these global currencies over time. Today the renminbi is still far below the euro's status. But it's moving up and catching up very quickly. Because of the strong growth of the Chinese economy, its weight in the world economy, China will become the biggest economy in the world very soon.