(Finance) – The war in Ukraine “will have severe economic consequences for Europe, having struck when the recovery from the pandemic was still incomplete. “This was stated by the International Monetary Fund, underlining that with the war “New risks have emerged. The most worrying one it is a sudden stop of energy flows from Russiathat it would cause significant losses for many economies. “
Italy and other major European economies, with the exception of Spain, “they will just grow, if not even they will see a contraction, in 2022 “with the next quarters going towards zero growth due to the war in Ukraine. The GDP data, however, are positively affected” by the strong push inherited from 2021 “, said Alfred Kammer, director of the European department of the FMi, during a press conference which added that, in the case of un total embargo on Russian gas, the impact scenario of the IMF foresees a -3% of GDP in Europe, stronger for the countries most dependent on Russian energy.
As for the risk of a total embargo on energy supplied by Russia “it is not a risk in front of which to stay at the window “, Kammer said. “We can act now, and we are seeing it from some countries including Italy: looking at alternative energy sources, and Italy has taken steps in that direction, acting on demand” with public support or recommendations on the use of ‘energy for the cooling of the rooms, and by adopting a “contingency plan so that if that situation occurs there is a program for limit the impact on the economy “.
Kammer also invited European countries to show solidarity with each other on the energy level, for example by sharing agas supplies to mitigate shocks in this or that country.
(Photo: © Andrej Kaprinay, Ing./123RF)