Calviño announces an upward revision of inflation forecasts, which he expects to continue in double digits

He does not clarify whether he will lower growth forecasts, but he sees "coherent" that other organizations are doing it in the current scenario

MADRID, 14 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and for Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, announced this Thursday that she will revise the inflation forecasts "upwards" when the Executive prepares the General State Budgets (PGE) for 2023 and for to the autumn, when it sends all the information to the European institutions.

Calviño, in statements to RNE collected by Europa Press, has assured that the forecasts indicate that July will continue with the current level of inflation, "high and very high", with which it will remain in double digits, and then begin to fall after the summer

"Our forecast is that it will continue to be at these high levels and begin to drop after the summer because we have an increase in energy prices at an international level and gas prices have doubled," said Calviño, who has insisted that Spain must "prepare" for a scenario in which the prices of energy, food and other raw materials "remain very high".

Along with this, and despite the drop in oil prices in recent days, the vice president has pointed out that, in the Spanish case, the pull of tourism is driving up the prices of tourist services to compensate for the negative years of the pandemic.

"The forecasts are to continue at this level of high, very high inflation. Our objective has to be to position ourselves around the European average so that Spanish companies do not lose competitiveness and compensate and cushion the negative impact on citizens, companies and distribute the cost of the war fairly," he insisted.

Thus, given this scenario, Calviño has advanced that "it is clear" that the Government is going to have to revise upwards the inflation forecasts. The Executive does not formally make estimates on the evolution of prices and usually takes as a reference the forecasts of the Bank of Spain, which point to an average inflation of 7.5% for this year.

"THE COHERENT IS TO REVISE THE GROWTH FORECASTS DOWNWARDS"

Asked if the growth forecasts will be revised downwards, Calviño has not clarified if it will be done and has limited himself to saying that they are carried out with "enormous prudence", that they are adapting to the situation and that, as a whole, "they are maintains strong growth in Spain "But the economic scenario has changed due to the war and the gas and oil supply cuts, which are impacting inflation in Spain," he added.

Precisely, the European Commission plans to publish its summer economic forecasts this Thursday. Calviño has assured that, regardless of the data offered by Brussels, "all the organizations are lowering growth forecasts and raising inflation forecasts". "That is what is consistent with the scenario that has been generated as a result of the war," he added.

In any case, he has insisted that all the organizations agree that the Spanish economy will continue to have "strong growth", also driven by European funds and the Recovery Plan, which offers a "more solid base to face future challenges". ".

Thus, asked if Spain is heading towards an economic recession, the vice president has asserted that "for the moment" what is seen is an economy that is growing "at a very good pace", for which all national and international organizations project growth over 4% this year.

GO TOWARDS GREATER ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Calviño has assured that "he perfectly understands the discomfort, anger and frustration" of citizens in the face of high prices, but has insisted that the Government is responding "effectively", with measures "very close to the ground" and concentrated on help citizens so that they can continue consuming and "having a life as normal as possible".

Asked if Spain will have to adopt measures such as those being requested in Germany to save energy (shorter showers with cold water), the vice-president stressed that the situation in Spain "is not comparable" to that of the German country or to that of France.

In the first case, he recalled that the threat they face comes from Russia cutting off energy supplies given Germany's "substantial" dependence on Russian gas and coal. In the French case, it has stated that half of its nuclear park is stopped and it is importing energy from Spain, where there is a "supply guarantee and a significant penetration of renewable energies".

"We are all going to have to take measures that lead us to greater energy efficiency, but maintaining our lifestyle because fortunately we have a different situation," he concluded.