Lagarde: Latest growth data encouraging

ECB President Christine Lagarde said the latest data on economic growth in France, Germany and Spain was “very encouraging.” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview published on Sunday that the latest data on economic output in France, Germany and Spain was “very encouraging” and confirmed the European Central Bank’s expectations. “The second-quarter GDP figures for France, Germany and Spain are very encouraging. They support our scenario of 0.9 percent GDP growth in the euro area this year,” Lagarde told French newspaper Le Figaro. “We have come a long way in the fight against inflation, we are getting closer to the target. We will only know whether we have reached the medium-term inflation target of 2 percent thanks to the economic and financial data and we will act on the basis of the analysis of that data,” Lagarde added.