ECB chief economist Philip Lane said in an interview that Eurozone is “very much at an inflection point”. Looking backwards, the initial weeks of this year “have been very tough” for many businesses. But looking forward, “there will be a rebound” from the worst, even though it’s not a “full recovery” yet.
Q1 will have seen a “slight contraction”. But the economy “will be growing in May and in June, and even more strongly in the third quarter between July and September, with that momentum continuing into the autumn,” he added. ” If you take the whole year, 2021 together, we do think activity will be about 4 per cent above 2020 values. That doesn’t quite recover all of the losses from 2020, but it’s significant progress compared with where we are now.”
