"There will be no sustainable recovery in the absence of an increase in investment" because "no monetary or fiscal stimulus can be successful unless accompanied by the right structural policies". This is what the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, claimed yesterday evening, speaking at the Eurofi gala dinner in Milan in view of today's Ecofin and tomorrow's Eurogroup.
"The ECB - Draghi recalled - is ready to intervene further, if necessary, in accordance with its mandate to maintain price stability" but its action would not be decisive in the absence of reforms and investments which it is up to governments to favour. "A decisive increase in investments - he said - is essential to bring inflation closer to the desired levels", ie around 2%, but also "to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment".
In essence, it is a matter of breaking the infernal circle of deflation and recession and the action of governments is decisive, both by carrying out structural reforms and favoring the recovery of public and private investments, by cutting taxes and cutting unproductive public spending. From this point of view, added Draghi, together with private investments, the role that Europe is about to play with the Juncker plan which envisages investments for 300 billion could be important.
Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan also took the line of the president of the ECB, who asked the European partners to favor common rules on minibonds to facilitate non-bank financing of small and medium-sized enterprises.
