The ECB is now resorting to echoing Humpty Dumpty

by Shaun Richards

Focus has shifted to the Euro area this week as we see that something of an economic storm is building. For a while now we have seen the impact of the trade war which has reduced the Germany economy to a crawl with economic growth a mere 0.4% over the past year. Then both Italy (0.3%) and France ( 0.1%) saw contractions in the final quarter of 2019. Now in an example of being kicked when you are down one of the worst outbreaks of Corona Virus outside of China is being seen in Italy. Indeed the idea of Austria stopping a train with people from Italy suspected of having the virus posed a question for one of the main tenets of the Euro area as well as reminding of the film The Cassandra Crossing.

Tourism

This is a big deal for Italy as The Local explained last summer.

Announcing the new findings, ENIT chief Giorgio Palmucci said tourism accounted for 13 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product.

The food and wine tourism sector continued to be the most profitable of all.

The study’s authors found that “the daily per capita expenditure for a food and wine holiday is in fact in our country is about 117 euros. Meanwhile it was 107 for trips to the mountains and 91 on the coast.”

The numbers were for 2017 and were showing growth but sadly if we look lower on the page we come to a sentence that now rather stands out.

Visitor numbers are only expected to keep growing. Many in the tourism industry predict 2019 will busier than ever in Italy, partly thanks to a growing Chinese tourism market.

Maybe so, but what about 2020? There have to be questions now and Italy is not the only country which does well from tourism.

Tourism plays a major role in the French economy. The accommodation and food  services sector, representing the largest part of the tourism sector, accounts for between
2.5% and 3% of GDP while the knock-on effects of tourism are also felt in other sectors, such as transport and leisure. Consequently, the total amount of internal tourism
consumption, which combines tourism-related spending by both French residents and non-residents, represents around 7.5% of GDP (5% for residents, 2.5% for non-residents). ( OECD)

Spain

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution associated with tourism, measured through the total tourist demand, reached 137,020 million euros in 2017. This figure represented 11.7% of GDP, 0.4% more than in 2016. ( INE )

Last summer Kathimerini pointed out that tourism was not only a big part of the Greek economy but was a factor in its recent improvement.

Tourism generates over a quarter of Greece’s gross domestic product, according to data presented on Wednesday by the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE). The data highlight the industry’s importance to the national economy and employment, as well as tourism’s quasi-monopolistic status in the country’s growth.

According to the latest figures available, at least one percentage point out of the 1.9 points of economic expansion last year came from tourism.

It wondered whether Greece relied on it too much which I suspect many more are worried about today, although fortunately Greece has only had one case of Corona Virus so far. It not only badly needs some good news but deserves it. After all another big sector for it will be affected by wider virus problems.

That also illustrates the country’s great dependence on tourism, as Greece has not developed any other important sector, with the possible exception of shipping, which accounts for about 7 percent of GDP.

Economic Surveys

Italy has released its official version this morning.

As for the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) improved passing from 99.2 to 99.8.

That for obvious reasons attracts attention and if we look we see there may be a similar problem as we saw on the Markit IHS survey for Germany.

The confidence index in manufacturing increased only just from 100.0 to 100.6. Among the series included
into the definition of the climate, the opinions on order books bettered from -15.5 to -14.3 while the
expectations on production decreased from 5.6 to 4.7

As you can see the expectations  for production have fallen. Perhaps we should note that this index averaged 99.5 in the last quarter of 2019 when the economy shrank by 0.3%

France had something similar yesterday.

In February 2020, households’ confidence in the economic situation has been stable. The synthetic index has stayed at 104, above its long-term average (100).

This continued a theme begun on Tuesday.

In February 2020, the business climate is stable. At 105, the composite indicator, compiled from the answers of business managers in the main market sectors, is still above its long-term mean (100). Compared to January, the business climate has gained one point in retail trade and in services.

Really? This is a long-running set of surveys but we seem to be having a divorce from reality because if we return to household confidence I note that consumption fell in December.

We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!

Household consumption expenditure on goods fell in December (–0.3%) but increased over the fourth quarter (+0.4%).

Money Supply

This may give us a little clue to the surveys above. From the ECB earlier.

Annual growth rate of narrower monetary aggregate M1, comprising currency in circulation and overnight deposits, stood at 7.9% in January, compared with 8.0% in December.

Whilst the number has dipped recently from the two 8.4% readings we saw in the latter part of 2019 it is much better than the 6.2% recorded last January. So maybe the surveys are in some sense picking an element of that up as the interest-rate cut and recommencement of QE bond buying feeds into the data.

Comment

If we switch to the ECB looking for clues as to what is happening in the economy then I would suggests it discounts heavily what the European Commission has just released.

In February 2020, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) increased in both the euro area (by 0.9 points to 103.5) and the EU (by 0.5 points to 103.0).

 

 

That does not fit with this at all.

GERMANY’S VDA SAYS CORONAVIRUS IS AFFECTING SUPPLY CHAINS OF CAR MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS ( @PriapusIQ )

Anyway the newly appointed Isabel Schnabel of the ECB has been speaking today and apparently it is a triumph that its policies have stabilised economic growth somewhere around 0%.

Although the actions of major central banks over the past few years have succeeded in easing financial conditions and thereby stabilising growth and inflation, current and expected inflation rates remain stubbornly below target, in spite of years of exceptional monetary policy support.

Next she sings along with The Chairmen of the Board.

Give me just a little more time
And our love will surely grow
Give me just a little more time
And our love will surely grow

How?

This implies that the medium-term horizon over which the ECB pursues the sustainable alignment of inflation with its aim is considerably longer than in the past.

Another case of To Infinity! And Beyond! Except on this occasion we are addressing time rather than the amount of the operation which no doubt will be along soon enough.

Indeed she echoes Alice in Wonderland with this.

For the ECB, this means that the length of the “medium term” – which is an integral part of its definition of price stability – will vary over time.

Which sounds rather like.

When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

Although briefly she seems to have some sort of epiphany.

central banks often have only a limited understanding of the precise configuration of the forces

But it does not last and as ever I expect the result to be even lower interest-rates and more QE as the “lower bound” she mentions gets well er lower again.

Some of this is beyond the ECB’s control as there is not much it can do about a trade war and nothing about a virus outbreak. But by interfering in so many areas it has placed itself in the game and is caught in a trap of its own making. Or returning to The Chairmen of the Board.

There’s no need to act foolishly
If we part our hearts won’t forget it
Years from now we’ll surely regret it

Views:

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.