Lockdowns and pandemic-related restrictions were likely to slow down Europe's economic recovery as the ECB cut its predicts for 2021 and beyond.
ADVERTISEMENTPositive growth forecasts for the eurozone economy have been cut by economists as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic look set to slow down its post-COVID-19 recovery, according to a European Central Bank (ECB) survey.
Economists polled in the ECB's annual Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) published on Friday predicted real GDP growth would fall to 4.4 per cent this year amid further lockdowns and pandemic-related restrictions, down from 5.3 per cent in the previous quarter's predictions.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, the president of the ECB Christine Lagarde said the pandemic posed "downside risks" to the prospects for a rapid return to growth in the eurozone.
"The intensification of the pandemic poses risks to short-term economic prospects," said Lagarde after the institution's governing council left its monetary support programme for the coronavirus-hit economy unaltered.
Forecasts for 2020 fared better than previously predicted, rising to 3.7 per cent compared to forecasts of 2.6 per cent in the last survey published in October.
The long-term forecast showed the eurozone economy expanding by just 1.4 per cent in 2025
Mentioning "serious risks" and "risks of deterioration" for the eurozone economy, the ECB chief nevertheless considered the latest forecasts by the Frankfurt institution to remain "largely valid".
"The start of vaccination campaigns in the euro area is an important step in the resolution of the current health crisis. But the pandemic continues to pose serious risks to public health and to the economies of the eurozone and the world," she said.
Lagarde had previously warned in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde in October last year that Europe's economic recovery risked "running out of steam" as a second wave of coronavirus gripped the continent.
"The second wave of the epidemic in Europe, particularly in France, and the new restrictive measures that accompany it add to uncertainty and weigh on the recovery," she said.
Of particular concern, she said, was job losses due to the pandemic. The EU unemployment rate in October hovered around 7.6 per cent, one per cent higher than at the same time the previous year.
