Irish Examiner view: We've no reason to party like it's 2006

Despite Christine Lagarde's insouciance, the global economy looks like it is shaping up for rampant inflation

ECB president Christine Lagarde seemed to shrug off the threat of inflation — but indications from the domestic and global economies suggest otherwise. Picture: Michael Probst/AP

There was a certain insouciance, a nicely French description, about the interviews provided this week by Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank.

Inflation in the eurozone will decrease gradually this year, she said, because pressures on energy prices and supply chain bottlenecks are likely to ease. There is no current need, she said, to be limbering up in the same way as the US Federal Reserve, to squeeze inflationary pressures out of the system.