The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has pointed out that the current global "uncertainty" "does not please" the economy at all and may end up taking its toll if it is prolonged over time. In his opinion, the evolution of the conflict in the Middle East will be decisive for the economic course in the coming months.
From Bilbao, where he has gone to give a conference, he has been asked about the repercussions of the situation in the Middle East. After remarking that "multilateralism has somehow been broken," he has stressed that economic activity requires "confidence, tranquility," but it develops "permanently in a carousel, a roller coaster where the price of oil goes up to 110 and the next day it drops to 95, etc.".
In this context, he has indicated that they are "all expecting to see what will happen, what that space is where, from the economic level, that space of confidence can be found so that things can function in an orderly manner". He has reiterated that, if the crisis in the Middle East "is resolved soon" and "an agreement is reached", -although "it will be costly"-, things will return to normal.
However, he has stressed that, if "it is not fixed", there could be "a very serious problem". As an example, he recalled that "inflation has already been seen at 3.5% at the end of this month", that the European Central Bank "is already warning that interest rates will rise" and that the increase in the price of oil and gas ends up affecting transport, while "Europe is also taking moments of reflection" in case "this gets worse".
Garamendi has summarized that the current situation is understood with "the word uncertainty", something that "the world of economics evidently does not like at all". Therefore, he has reiterated that "what we are wishing for is that hopefully we would return to the spaces of tranquility, of peace that we lived a while ago".