Brussels (Brussels Morning) Finance Minister Olaf Scholz predicted in an interview with CNBC that the German economy can recover to pre-coronavirus levels crisis by 2022, DW reported on Tuesday. The EU can come out of the crisis stronger if member states continue cooperating, he said.
Data suggests the economy is recovering and could reach pre-crisis levels by the onset of 2022, he said, noting that that EU economies depend on each other and that the crisis presents an opportunity to create a tighter fiscal union. As is, cooperation and coordination between EU member states is helping their respective economies as well as showing others that the EU is able to fight against the crisis.
He hoped the EU would approve budget and recovery funds soon, and said he was optimistic that the EU would be able to solve the problems it faces this year so that budgetary allocations and aid funds can be used from the very start of next year. Given that many sectors of the economy rely on EU funds, Scholz cautioned that delays in finalizing agreements could damage the economy.
In July, EU leaders agreed on the bloc’s seven-year budget and a crisis recovery fund designed to help struggling member states. The two packages are worth some Euros 1.8 trillion and are to be approved by EU lawmakers who will resume discussions on the packages in coming days. Once approved, the packages will have to be ratified by EU member state national parliaments.
According to a survey released on Tuesday, investor confidence in Germany dropped in October as the number of confirmed infections surged. Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) institute’s monthly poll showed that economic sentiment dropped from a 20-year high of 77.4 points in September to 56.1 points in October.
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