– **The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock from China’s zero-Covid policy.**
– **Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant Bosch, told CNBC that the company sees “a big recession in the making.”**
LONDON — The CEOs of several European blue chip companies have told CNBC that they see a significant recession coming down the pike in Europe.
The continent is particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war, associated economic sanctions and energy supply concerns, and economists have been downgrading growth forecasts for the euro zone in recent weeks.
The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock arising from China’s zero-Covid policy. That has prompted concerns about “stagflation” — an environment of low economic growth and high inflation — and eventual recession.
“For sure, we see a big recession in the making, but that’s exactly what we see — it’s in the making. There is still an overhanging demand because of the Covid crisis we just are about to leave,” said Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant Bosch.
“It’s still there and you see it heavily hitting us in China, but you see that in a lot of areas in the world, the demand of consumers has already even been increased in some areas.”
In particular, Hartung noted lingering consumer demand for household appliances, power tools and vehicles, but suggested this would dissipate.
“That means for a certain amount of time, this demand will still be there, even while we see the interest increase and we see the pricing increase, but at some point in time, it won’t be just a supply crisis, it will also be a demand crisis, and then for sure, we are in a deep recession,” he added.
Inflation in the euro zone hit a record high of 7.5% in March. So far, the European Central Bank has remained more dovish than its peers, such as the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve, both of which have begun hiking interest rates in a bid to rein in inflation.
Could’ve saved a lot of words and just written “we’re fucked”.
Are they saying that they will increase own bonuses again?
On a boom, their earnings grow and the regular people who work to feed them and generate the wealth stay the same.
On a recession, they buy everything on the cheap to prepare for the next boon.
Capitalism is feudism with extra steps.
If pestilence, war and hunger (in poorer parts of the world) leads only to a recession in Europe, we’ll be lucky.
Shit is cyclical after all, like everything else. After that it will boom again and bust again and boom again.
It’s not just Europe.
USA and China has major problems. Russia will virtually disappear.
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– **The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock from China’s zero-Covid policy.**
– **Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant Bosch, told CNBC that the company sees “a big recession in the making.”**
LONDON — The CEOs of several European blue chip companies have told CNBC that they see a significant recession coming down the pike in Europe.
The continent is particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war, associated economic sanctions and energy supply concerns, and economists have been downgrading growth forecasts for the euro zone in recent weeks.
The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock arising from China’s zero-Covid policy. That has prompted concerns about “stagflation” — an environment of low economic growth and high inflation — and eventual recession.
“For sure, we see a big recession in the making, but that’s exactly what we see — it’s in the making. There is still an overhanging demand because of the Covid crisis we just are about to leave,” said Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant Bosch.
“It’s still there and you see it heavily hitting us in China, but you see that in a lot of areas in the world, the demand of consumers has already even been increased in some areas.”
In particular, Hartung noted lingering consumer demand for household appliances, power tools and vehicles, but suggested this would dissipate.
“That means for a certain amount of time, this demand will still be there, even while we see the interest increase and we see the pricing increase, but at some point in time, it won’t be just a supply crisis, it will also be a demand crisis, and then for sure, we are in a deep recession,” he added.
Inflation in the euro zone hit a record high of 7.5% in March. So far, the European Central Bank has remained more dovish than its peers, such as the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve, both of which have begun hiking interest rates in a bid to rein in inflation.
Could’ve saved a lot of words and just written “we’re fucked”.
Are they saying that they will increase own bonuses again?
On a boom, their earnings grow and the regular people who work to feed them and generate the wealth stay the same.
On a recession, they buy everything on the cheap to prepare for the next boon.
Capitalism is feudism with extra steps.
If pestilence, war and hunger (in poorer parts of the world) leads only to a recession in Europe, we’ll be lucky.
Shit is cyclical after all, like everything else. After that it will boom again and bust again and boom again.
It’s not just Europe.
USA and China has major problems. Russia will virtually disappear.