Lane speaking

摘要

WHEN PHILIP LANE joined the European Central Bank (ecb) nearly a year ago, he hardly expected to be fighting off the economic effects of a pandemic. The bank's preoccupations back then seem quaint now. The euro area's economy was sputtering and the ecb was forecasting a growth rate of 1.4% for 2020. Now Mr Lane, the bank's chief economist, speculates that gdp might fall by 5-12% this year.