Interview, Fireside Chat
Christine Lagarde: How covid-19 will shape Europe
- Post-pandemic economic and behavioral shifts regarding consumption, payment, education, and health are expected to persist permanently.
- Governments are anticipated to implement policies addressing pandemic-induced inequality, with women likely facing disproportionate furlough and layoff impacts in service and health sectors despite leadership attributes like empathy showing crisis management strengths.
- Efforts to increase female leadership are projected to utilize learning programs, role models, financial support, and voluntary quotas for women of equivalent quality, building on a French target that 40% of public company board members remain female.
- Europe's fiscal recovery is forecast to be slower and weaker than the United States due to limited stimulus, though fiscal support is expected to continue at least through 2021 or beyond depending on pandemic evolution, vaccination speed, herd immunity, and virus variants.
- The first tranches of Pan-European Next Generation EU Special Funds are planned for spending in the second half of 2021 to stimulate green and digital investment.
- Digital transformation is expected to permanently alter living, working, shopping, and communication patterns.
- A central bank digital currency is projected to be developed over the next four years, prioritizing privacy, data protection, and bank integration while remaining voluntary, secure, and non-substitutive of existing payment methods.