French FM lists 3 reasons that could trigger economic slowdown in European Union

While the entire world is grappling under the COVID wave triggered by the recently discovered Omicron variant, a French politician proclaimed three reasons that could create a slowdown in the European Union. According to a report by Sputnik, Bruno Le Maire, a French politician and former diplomat who has been serving as Minister of the Economy and Finance since 2017, averred that the resurgent of COVID-19 pandemic, China's economic slowdown, and inflation are the main reasons behind the slowdown in the European Union. According to him, the whole world including the European Union has already been reeling under the Coronavirus and then the emergence of the new Omicron variant has further devastated the block.

Furthermore, he added that the slowdown in China is again disrupting the global supply chain. It is pertinent to mention here that China is a major source of raw materials and silicon chips for the whole world. As of now, the world is facing a supply crisis due to the disruption in the supply chain "created" by the Chinese Communist regime. "I see three major risks. The first is a resurgence of the pandemic, we have to be vigilant, we have to be very humble and circumspect. Over the last two years, it is very difficult to say that we get rid of the pandemic once and for all. The second risk is a slowdown in China which may give rise to difficulties with certain supply value chains, so here too we have to be vigilant. Thirdly, there is the subject we discussed at greatest length, that is, inflation," Le Maire said following a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels.

EU Commissioner says high inflation drivers to remain strong until second half of 2022

On the other hand, Eurostat, the EU's official statistics bureau, in its latest report released on Tuesday resented its statistical recovery dashboard, noting that Europe's industrial production surged by 2.5% in November. Besides, it also presented an increase of 3.1% in exports. However, it also highlighted that inflation grew by 5.2% the same month. Meanwhile, European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni on Tuesday asserted that factors contributing to high inflation in the European Union will diminish, but not earlier than in the second half of the year. "It is clear that the factors driving to high inflation in the EU will decline, will fade, but probably not as soon as we expected, so probably in the second part of the year and not before, we will have our forecast in February the 11th, the Commission forecast," Gentiloni said at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.

Image: ANI