Only a fifth of eurozone households saved more during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving the vast majority without a financial cushion to cushion the current rise in energy prices, the European Central Bank said on Monday. .
Therefore, the meager savings accumulated during the pandemic may be insufficient to “protect the ongoing recovery in consumption against the negative impact of the recent rebound in energy prices,” the authors of the article point out. Their study is based on monthly consumer surveys in six eurozone countries (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands) conducted by the ECB between 2020 and 2021.
“Sudden increase in the cost of living”
Drawing a picture of the current economic situation in the region, ECB President Christine Lagarde re-stated on July 21 that consumption was “supported by the savings that households have accumulated during the pandemic and by a dynamic labor market “. Since the beginning of the year, European growth has benefited from the lifting of health restrictions and higher spending by households on leisure, tourism and transport.
But in June, the impact of this spending thaw “starts to fade under the effect of the sharp increase in the cost of living,” Chris Williamson, chief economist at S&P Global, observed recently. We will have to see what implications this study will have on the monetary policy of the euro zone: in July the ECB raised rates for the first time in 11 years in the face of record inflation and is considering other increases based on economic data from the moment
Source: BFM TV
