"The last 1-2 month, inflation went up slightly again, with fractions of a percent – 0.1-0.2. But this is not a very good sign, because usually in the summer, inflation decreases slightly. Levon Hampartsumyan commented on this in the Nova News studio..
He commented on the ECB's decision to lower interest rates.
„Christiane Lagarde was quite protected. Hopes that we will have another downgrade in the foreseeable future, by the end of the year, are practically nil. The other members of the ECB's board were also quite cautious about the future and recent interest rate cuts, Hampartzoumian said.
„The increase in the interest rate suppresses inflationary processes, but it also suppresses the economy. Moreover, the southern countries of Europe are quite indebted. There, national debts would become prohibitive as an interest burden for the countries concerned. When determining the interest rate in the Eurozone, a very delicate balance must be sought between the lowering of the main interest rate, which should lead to economic growth, cheaper credit and so on, and the increase, which fights inflation, he explained. Hampartsumyan.
He stressed the importance of elections this year in both the EU and the US.
„The outcome of this election could affect economic realities for the next few years,” he said.
„The green deal wins elections, but it doesn't pay the bills,”, he also commented. “The European economy, swayed by its green ideas, missed a few bars of economic development. And if the EU was a bigger economy than the US in the 1990s, today we are significantly behind. This means only one thing - mistakes in the strategic planning of the economy, which should be corrected as soon as possible, Hampartsumyan said.
He also comments on what is better - more serious financial discipline or bigger deficits?
„It depends on what the source of the deficit is. If we ate, drank and squandered the deficit, this would, of course, be negative both for the economy and for our everyday life. However, if these are investments that will build new infrastructures, raise the level of education, raise the level of medical care, whatever you want, that is related to the economy and the basis on which that economy is developed, yes, then it can be let us have years with deficits”, he thinks.
Regarding mortgages, he explained that nowadays most are between 20 and 30 years old.
„We can expect periods in which interest rates will go up. Historically, at the moment in Bulgaria, we are at the lowest interest rates since 1990. But I don't think there will be shock increases,”, he said.
Regarding interest rates on deposits, Hampartsumyan explained that some banks already give high rates.