21:24 18 May 2020
Debt levels to reach unprecedented proportions: EIB Vice President
As a result of the crisis, debt ratios will reach unprecedented levels, and the level of the public finance deficit will be unchanged since World War II, EIB Vice President Teresa Czerwińska said on Monday.
Czerwińska took part in the accompanying session of EEC Online (European Economic Congress) devoted to the European response to the crisis. She expressed her faith that joint efforts and coordinated actions were effective and would allow for mitigating the effects of a pandemic and a relatively quick return to normality.
She noted that this normality will not be the same as before, and the effects of Covid-19 will leave their mark not only on economic life. According to the former Minister of Finance, the economic effects of the current crisis will be much more severe than the effects of the crisis of 2008-2009.
"This crisis is directly related to the real economy, unlike the previous crisis, which was generated by the financial crisis," she noted.
Citing statistical data, she informed that estimates show that as a result of the pandemic, the global economy will shrink by more than 3 percent, i.e. much more than in 2008-2009, and according to the baseline scenario, which assumes stopping the pandemic in the second half of this year, economic rebound in 2021 will amount to 5.8 percent.
