SHARE
COPY LINK

EUROZONE

Riksbank offers negative outlook on eurozone

Executives from Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, gave a dire outlook for the eurozone, saying that political leaders have yet to present any credible solutions for the crisis, minutes of the central bankers' meeting showed Tuesday.

Riksbank offers negative outlook on eurozone

“All the members (of the central bank’s committee) found that the situation in the eurozone is still uncertain and that the crisis there will last,” minutes of Thursday’s monetary policy meeting said.

In the minutes, Governor Stefan Ingves said that “we can forecast that the uncertainty will last as long as credible measures have not been implemented.”

Deputy governor Lars Svensson gave an even darker assessment of the situation, saying that “the chances of resolving the euro crisis in a satisfactory manner still seem to be low.”

He added that he did not exclude a “disastrous end”.

Another deputy Karolina Ekholm meanwhile said that the eurozone remained embroiled in a public debt crisis and suffered from a lack of competitivity, with banks that are poorly capitalised.

“There is still no clear message from political leaders on the manner in which they will resolve these problems, although we are not expecting them to either,” she said.

The Swedish central bank had cut its interest rate by a quarter point to 1.25 percent following the meeting on Thursday. Five members of the committee had backed the rate cut while one sought a half percentage point reduction.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BUDGET

Paris, Berlin agree on future eurozone budget: French ministry source

France and Germany have agreed on the broad outlines of a proposed eurozone budget which they will present to EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday, a French finance ministry source said.

Paris, Berlin agree on future eurozone budget: French ministry source
French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire (R) and German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz. File photo: AFP

The common single-currency budget was one of French President Emmanuel Macron's key ideas for protecting the euro, but it caused differences between France and Germany, the region's two largest economies.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Germany's minister, Olaf Scholz, will “jointly present a proposition on Monday… about the layout for a budget for the eurozone,” the ministry source told AFP.

“It's a major step forward,” the source said. “We will look forward to sharing with other members.”

The source said the amount of the budget has not been established as the proposal was to first set out the “architecture and main principles” of the budget.

According to a copy of the French-German proposal, the budget would be part of the EU budget structure and governed by the 19 euro members.

Macron will travel to Berlin at the weekend to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel where the two leaders will bolster their alliance as champions of a united Europe.

READ ALSO: France and Germany push for compromise on eurozone reform

SHOW COMMENTS