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ECONOMY

Clinton tells the French to be more positive

The former US President Bill Clinton had a message for the French public on a visit to Paris this week - “don’t be too pessimistic”.

Clinton tells the French to be more positive
Bill Clinton tells the French to be positive in his interview with Europe1 radio. Photo: screenshot Europe1.

The French need to keep their chins up and be positive, despite the economic doom and gloom.

That is the message that has been given to the public by former US President Bill Clinton in an interview with French radio station Europe1 this week.

The former occupant of the White House said the French had plenty to be cheery about despite the financial crisis gripping Europe.

“Look at the brain power, the technological capabilities and the productivity of the French people. Look at the immense human resources you have here. France has a huge number of immigrants that can be converted from a constant source of worry into a vital workforce.

“You may have some modernization to do, but you should not be too pessimistic.”

Despite France suffering from record unemployment rates and having recently entered recession Clinton believes good times are around the corner for France.

Clinton admitted that the 21st century would be “complicated” but he believed “the most prosperous period in the history of the world is to come”, before adding the condition that this would happen only “if we take care of climate change as soon as possible”.

The ex-president also commended France for its decisive military interventions in Africa in recent years.

“What you [the French] did in Mali was very courageous and correct,” said Clinton, who also acknowledged France’s “leading role” in Libya.

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ECONOMY

How is Denmark’s economy handling inflation and rate rises?

Denmark's economy is now expected to avoid a recession in the coming years, with fewer people losing their jobs than expected, despite high levels of inflation and rising interest rates, The Danish Economic Council has said in a new report.

How is Denmark's economy handling inflation and rate rises?

The council, led by four university economics professors commonly referred to as “the wise men” or vismænd in Denmark, gave a much rosier picture of Denmark’s economy in its spring report, published on Tuesday, than it did in its autumn report last year. 

“We, like many others, are surprised by how employment continues to rise despite inflation and higher interest rates,” the chair or ‘chief wise man’,  Carl-Johan Dalgaard, said in a press release.

“A significant drop in energy prices and a very positive development in exports mean that things have gone better than feared, and as it looks now, the slowdown will therefore be more subdued than we estimated in the autumn.”

In the English summary of its report, the council noted that in the autumn, market expectations were that energy prices would remain at a high level, with “a real concern for energy supply shortages in the winter of 2022/23”.

That the slowdown has been more subdued, it continued was largely due to a significant drop in energy prices compared to the levels seen in late summer 2022, and compared to the market expectations for 2023.  

The council now expects Denmark’s GDP growth to slow to 1 percent in 2023 rather than for the economy to shrink by 0.2 percent, as it predicted in the autumn. 

In 2024, it expects the growth rate to remain the same as in 2003, with another year of 1 percent GDP growth. In its autumn report it expected weaker growth of 0.6 percent in 2024.

What is the outlook for employment? 

In the autumn, the expert group estimated that employment in Denmark would decrease by 100,000 people towards the end of the 2023, with employment in 2024  about 1 percent below the estimated structural level. 

Now, instead, it expects employment will fall by just 50,000 people by 2025.

What does the expert group’s outlook mean for interest rates and government spending? 

Denmark’s finance minister Nikolai Wammen came in for some gentle criticism, with the experts judging that “the 2023 Finance Act, which was adopted in May, should have been tighter”.  The current government’s fiscal policy, it concludes “has not contributed to countering domestic inflationary pressures”. 

The experts expect inflation to stay above 2 percent in 2023 and 2024 and not to fall below 2 percent until 2025. 

If the government decides to follow the council’s advice, the budget in 2024 will have to be at least as tight, if not tighter than that of 2023. 

“Fiscal policy in 2024 should not contribute to increasing demand pressure, rather the opposite,” they write. 

The council also questioned the evidence justifying abolishing the Great Prayer Day holiday, which Denmark’s government has claimed will permanently increase the labour supply by 8,500 full time workers. 

“The council assumes that the abolition of Great Prayer Day will have a short-term positive effect on the labour supply, while there is no evidence of a long-term effect.” 

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