Eurozone finance ministers discuss the economic situation with the IMF and ECB today

This Thursday, eurozone finance ministers, together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB), will discuss the economic situation in the single currency, which is expected to remain moderate.

The agenda for the meeting, which will take place in Luxembourg, states that “the Eurogroup will exchange views on the international role of the euro based on the ECB’s annual review.”

“The IMF will present its analysis of eurozone policy, followed by a statement, and in addition, ministers will continue to discuss eurozone competitiveness, with a particular focus on industrial policy,” it is also mentioned.

Portugal will be represented by Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, while the IMF will be represented by Director General Kristalina Georgieva, who was recently reappointed to the position.

Kristalina Georgieva is expected to present a “reasonably optimistic picture” of the eurozone’s prospects, according to European sources, while the IMF as well as the European Commission estimate modest GDP growth in 2024, although still forecast inflation. will continue to decline and that the labor market in the single currency area will remain resilient.

The debate comes a day after the European Commission announced, as part of the European Semester spring package (Europe’s annual fiscal policy coordination framework), that after 10 years Portugal will no longer have macroeconomic imbalances due to a “reduction in vulnerabilities associated with high private public and external debt, which is expected to continue to decline.”

Also on Wednesday, the European Commission opened new cases alleging excessive deficits after more than four years of suspended fiscal rules due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, with new procedures against seven European Union countries at stake. EU), such as Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia, which are expected to take effect in July.

On Friday, finance ministers at an Ecofin meeting will discuss the role of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and its financing of defense projects and dual-use assets.

This comes after the Board of Directors of the EIB, the European Union’s bank, in May approved a change in the security and defense goods and infrastructure financing policy and the previous approval of Union finance ministers. .

This will allow the EU bank to abandon its previous requirement to only support dual-use projects to support more defense initiatives.

Also on Friday, the economic and budgetary situation in Ukraine will be discussed, a week after the G7 announced a new loan of $50 billion (about 47 billion euros).