Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
New Year’s SALE: Up to 40% OFF InvestingPro+ CLAIM OFFER
ECB's Rehn warns against excessive energy expenditure
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Governor of the Bank of Finland, Olli Rehn attends a Reuters Newsmaker event in London, Britain, May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Euro area countries should avoid increasing spending too much due to the energy crisis as long-term debt already poses a threat in one-third of the bloc, European Central Bank policymaker and Finnish central bank chief Olli Rehn said on Thursday.
"The efforts of EU countries to identify ways to limit household energy bills are understandable but indiscriminately increasing expenditure would not be - and would not help in the fight against inflation," Rehn said in a statement.
Instead, he called for tailored and temporary measures targeted at the most vulnerable to help them pay for their energy.
"The long-term debt sustainability of more than one-third of the countries in the euro area is under serious threat," he said.
Rehn said Europe should combine its forces in combating energy-related inflation via energy market reforms but first and foremost by saving energy.
"There are some encouraging signs that the market economy is to some extent working in the sense that we see higher energy prices affecting demand," Rehn said, citing statistics from Finland showing that the use of natural gas has halved this year thanks to energy saving by industrial users.
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.