MNI BRIEF: Must Not Repeat Mistakes In Recovery: Lagarde​​​

Policymakers will need to be "well organised" and not repeat previous mistakes as economies emerge from the Covid-19-induced crisis, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche published Sunday. Lagarde said closing all the taps at once, cutting off both fiscal and monetary stimulus, must not happen.

Although accepting there were still downside risks, Lagarde said the recovery was still on track for 2021, even if slightly delayed. However, she was happy that the ECB's staff projections, were still appropriate, as MNI outlined in January. Since the September 2020 projections were published, she said, the unknown risks of a no-deal Brexit, the U.S. elections or a confirmed and approved vaccine had all been put aside.

"All of these major uncertainties have now been resolved, notably the most important one of all – the availability of reliable vaccines," she said.