ECB forecasts still stand if lockdowns lift by end-March, Lagarde says

The European Central Bank’s forecast of an economic rebound this year still stands despite fresh restrictions to activity in several euro zone countries, provided those measures are lifted by end-March, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.

“I think our last projections in December are still very clearly plausible,” Lagarde said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference. “Our forecast is predicated on lockdown measures until the end of the first quarter.”

She added it would be “a concern” if curbs to economic activity continued in the second quarter.