European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said it was wrong to claim that budget austerity would cause stagnation, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would stick to plans to save 80 billion euros in the next four years, its biggest program of fiscal cutbacks since World War Two.
"We'll enact the measures that we've agreed upon," Merkel said in an interview with German ARD television broadcast on Thursday morning. "I believe we should not let up."
After winning plaudits for guiding the world economy through the financial crisis, splits have emerged among Group of 20 powers over which policy priority ought to take precedence now -- supporting still-shaky growth or shrinking budget deficits. Markets remain jittery about the debt crisis and the risk of an economic slowdown in the run-up to the meeting of G20 leaders this weekend, with the cost of protecting government debt against default hitting a record high for Greece and jumping in other peripheral countries such as Portugal.
For more: Europe digs in on budget austerity ahead of G20 | Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment