Ralph Solveen Quotations

Given today's jump in sentiment numbers, hard economic data for January should follow suit.

Don't expect a new government to arrive and somebody to flip a switch to make everything look just fine again. We're at a painful threshold that we need to cross in order to see an improvement later. In the short run, the measures will burden private households.

Energy prices are still pushing inflation and otherwise price pressures are relatively weak,

This is really a very positive surprise but unfortunately it has nothing to do with the economy. It's only a statistical effect because many people who used to be registered as unemployed are no longer included in the numbers.

It's a tough decision with a slowdown in growth and increase in inflation rates, ... The ECB is expected to cut rates by 0.25 percentage point by the end of June.

It's a big disappointment. It shows all the talk about the government's tax plans had a much bigger impact on private consumption than we had thought.

The labor market statistic currently doesn't provide much guidance. We need to look at full-time jobs that are subject to social security contributions, and that number still seems to be shrinking.

I don't think that this in any way changes the overall picture for the ECB,