OeNB Boss: "There Are Signs That Inflation Is Higher"

National Bank Governor Robert Holzmann says inflation in the euro area could be different than expected by the ECB. He is not afraid of the wave of bankruptcy.

The governor of the Austrian National Bank, Robert Holzmann, sees the danger that inflation in the euro area will be higher than expected by the ECB. The European Central Bank is currently predicting that the rate of inflation will fall steadily from the beginning of next year after a peak in late 2021 and again below the ECB’s target of two percent at the end of the year, said the Austrian ECB Council members on Saturday 1- in an interview with the “Morning Journal.”

“There are indications that there is a risk that inflation is high, but that assessment will be checked very quickly once you see how inflation feels next year. If it is not the sharp decline that is currently being discussed If it is, everyone, including the other allies, will certainly make a revision and we will certainly change the direction of our monetary policy,” Holzmann said.

no wave of bankruptcy

The head of the central bank said that there are different views in the Governing Council about the current very high inflation, but these are not gaps, but nuances. If the inflation forecast rises, the ECB is prepared to adjust monetary policy accordingly. Holzmann believes the new virus mutation will weaken Omicron volatility, but economic dynamics will still be high in 2022. He does not see a wave of bankruptcy on Austria.

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In 2018, Holzmann was named as the new governor of the OeNB by the then ruling party, FPÖ. Holzman did not wish to comment on the current vaccination-critical course of FPÖ in the interview. He thinks vaccination is very important and he himself has been vaccinated three times. On vaccination requirements, he said that other countries have achieved higher vaccination coverage rates on a voluntary basis. From Holzmann’s point of view, this would have been possible in Austria as well.

>>> 1 Interview in “Morning Journal”

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