Economics
Deflation Fears at ECB Signal Stimulus Battles for Lagarde
- Officials in Italy, Spain more worried than Germans, Austrians
- Debate echoes 2014 when Draghi pushed for quantitative easing
Christine Lagarde
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Deflation is back on the minds of European Central Bank officials, presaging battles for President Christine Lagarde over whether the euro zone needs yet more monetary stimulus.
In sparking the biggest peacetime recession in Europe since the 1930s, the coronavirus pandemic has reawakened the image of a Great Depression-like slump in prices and wages that sucks the life out of the economy.