Interview with Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Eric Albert on 18 April 2023

25 April 2023

Last autumn, a euro area recession at the beginning of 2023 seemed inevitable. Has it been avoided?

Yes, the indicators show that the European economy has been growing in the first few months of the year. The main factors behind this have been the fall in energy prices, especially gas prices, and the easing of bottlenecks. This has caused a visible improvement in the confidence of consumers and firms.

In March, the ECB was forecasting euro area growth of 1% for 2023. Are we still on track?

That forecast remains reasonable. But I must emphasise that there are still factors that are causing significant uncertainty: there are many questions about the state of the world economy, about Russia’s war against Ukraine, and about the impact of monetary tightening. It’s important to remember the scale of the challenges facing Europe and the world economy. After a…