ECB president: Euro zone recovery fragile, fiscal consolidation should continue

The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said here on Friday that the recovery of the euro zone economy is fragile and fiscal consolidation should continue. Addressing the 44th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Draghi said, "the bottom line of this is that we have seen the beginning of a recovery which is still weak, which is still fragile and it's still uneven." According to Draghi, improvements have been witnessed on the financial markets and the "very accommodative" monetary policy was being passed through to the real economy. Although the survey data were good, the hard data of the euro zone were not all good, he said. With regard to the inflation rate, Draghi repeated that it was likely to stay at current level for the next two years and later gradually move to the objective of the ECB. Fiscal consolidation must not be unraveled, Draghi said and added that it must be made more pro-growth by cutting taxes, cutting most government spending, and increasing infrastructure expenditure. The 44th World Economic Forum is taking place from January 22 to 25 under the theme of "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business." Participating this year are over 2,500 leaders from nearly 100 countries and regions, including 300 public figures, 1,500 business leaders and representatives from civil society, academia, the media and arts.