FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Some economic indicators suggest that Europe’s pandemic-induced recession may be milder than earlier feared, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel told Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
“In recent weeks some confidence indicators have come in positive, which suggests that the recession could turn out somewhat milder than expected,” Schnabel was quoted on Tuesday as saying. “But overall we are in the range of our baseline scenario.”
The ECB and the European Commission both expect the euro zone economy to shrink by 8.7% this year with a rebound predicted in the second half.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by John Stonestreet)
