While the IMF warns that this year’s coronavirus epidemic could damage global economic growth, Brussels believes it is too early to assess risks, at least for the Old World. Here is what the head of the Eurogroup Mario Centen a cepon told reporters, before the meeting with the finance ministers of the euro area countries:

“We expect the effect to be short-lived. We should be concerned about this, but we also need to look forward to the long-term growth prospects of the euro area economy. And at this stage, these prospects seem good.”

Not all heads of European financial institutions are so optimistic in the Eurogroup. Italian Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, in particular, said:

“We are cautious in our assessments because we still need to see how the situation with coronavirus disease will develop. Will the epidemic only affect China’s GDP, will the European economy affect and to what extent? It’s too early to tell.”

Germany’s economic growth will be weak in the first quartel. This is stated in the regular report of the Bundesbank. “With the advent of coronavirus in China in early 2020, a new level of risk has been added,” the experts noted.