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ECB Now Owns 80% of the Eurozone – Trustnodes

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The balance sheet of the European Central Bank (ECB) has risen to 77% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Eurozone which includes Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

ECB’s balance sheet has risen to €7,657,629 million, not far off from doubling in 2020 from about €4.7 trillion.

ECB’s Balance Sheet, June 2021

Eurozone’s GDP in contrast has fallen to now about €10 trillion, its lowest level since 2018 and pretty much stagnating since 2007.

The Eruozone area as a whole hardly has seen much growth for the past decade when accounting for the contractions in contrast to both America and China which have seen their GDP grow significantly.

Eurozone GDP, June 2021

While Miami and wider Florida sees no restrictions at all, Europe continues to struggle economically with various countries at different stages of lockdowns.

Now more than a year on, the economy is not seeing much growth with ECB picking up the tab to monetize assets which eventually it may have to unload.

This €7.7 trillion in ECB’s balance sheet is debt that must be repaid, with the vast majority of the debt being government debt which is sold to commercial banks and then bought off them from the central bank.

Interest rates are near zero however currently, and in some euro states they are even negative, so this arrangement for now probably won’t cause any political problems.

However if interest rates need to be increased due to a rise in the velocity of money, and thus inflation, the funneling of taxpayer money to the private banking sector based on printed fiat from nothing by ECB may raise difficult equitable considerations.

European governments however have not quite gone to the extent of US presidents with Biden proposing a $6 trillion budget after some $6 trillion was spent during the pandemic.

It’s not clear therefore whether Europe will see a bounce in inflation, or even in economic growth, with the elected arguably far too cautious in providing a monetary shock and awe to electrify the economy.

Yet that may soon change as Germany eyes going green, with the Grunde having their ups and downs but if they win, the citizens may at least get something out of this vast new mortgage in a Green New Deal infrastructure spending to upgrade the country and continent for the green and digital revolution.

So the ECB balance sheet may not quite matter in comparison to what is done with all this money, as debt itself is not necessarily bad, but badly invested debt or worse, squandered debt can be bankruptcy which for nation states comes in the form of galloping inflation or in catastrophes of hyperinflation.



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Europe

Euro investment bank predicts shortfall in blockchain and tech investment

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The European Union is falling behind China and the United States when it comes to blockchain and artificial intelligence investments, according to the European Investment Bank.

The EIB said on Tuesday that it anticipates an ongoing investment shortfall of around 10 billion euros ($12 billion) across both technologies. China and the U.S. currently account for 80% of the global $25 billion invested in blockchain and AI, with the EU making up just 7% of that figure, reported Reuters.

The bank said the underinvestment in both sectors compared to other regions was a sign that the EU has failed to translate scientific knowledge into applicable business models.

“Companies and governments in Europe are substantially underinvesting in AI and blockchain compared to other leading regions and it has become clear that the European Union struggles to translate its scientific excellence into business application and economic success,” the report stated.

The EIB said it expected investments in both technologies to contribute to the global COVID-19 recovery across sectors ranging from healthcare to financial services. The bank said extra funding from private markets would be required if the EU intended to keep pace with global competitors.

“EU and member state support schemes could plug part of the gap, but private markets will clearly need to contribute the balance,” said the bank.

Even amid the investment shortfall depicted by the EIB, financial institutions within Europe continue to experiment with blockchain technology. The Banque de France recently used the Ethereum blockchain to run pilot tests for a central bank digital currency. Most major countries in the EU have signaled their intention to explore the development of CBDCs in the coming years.