ECB's Kazaks Highlights Increasing Eurozone Recession Risks

European Central Bank Governing Council Member and Latvian Central Bank Governor Martins Kazaks has issued a stark warning about the growing probability of a recession in the euro area. This alarming prediction comes in the wake of trade wars initiated by United States President Donald Trump's controversial tariff policies.

"Recession is not currently the baseline scenario, but with such far-reaching potential changes in geopolitics and world trade, its probability is high," Kazaks stated in a recent blog post. Despite current projections indicating a modest growth of around 1% for the European economy in 2025, the central banker emphasized the emergence of significant downside risks.

Global Economic Uncertainty on the Rise

Kazaks further elaborated on the broader implications of these tariff policies, noting that they introduce considerable risk and uncertainty into the global economy. "The course of events so far suggests that the uncertainty is not a side effect of policy, but an opportunistic choice of US politics," he concluded, pointing to the deliberate nature of these economic disruptions.