ECB/Lagarde: We see no inflation, no wage spiral

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said that the growth in wages in the Eurozone was normal and that they did not see a spiral. European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde stated that it was normal for wages to grow in order to restore purchasing power eroded by the rapid rise in inflation in the Eurozone, and argued that there was no wage-price spiral in the Eurozone. Stating that the ECB was monitoring wage growth “very, very closely,” Lagarde emphasized that it was a quite normal process for wages to increase in order to catch up with inflation. Lagarde said, “At this point, we are not seeing an inflation, wage, inflation, wage spiral for the Eurozone as a whole. It would be very difficult if we were to witness that.” Inflation decreased by 0.4 per thousand monthly in January The consumer price index (CPI) in the Eurozone increased by 8.5 percent annually in January. The median estimate of economists who participated in a Bloomberg survey was for 8.9 percent. On the other hand, consumer prices in the Eurozone decreased by 0.4 percent monthly in January.