“Good” French economic growth not hit by Omicron but inflation too high – Villeroy

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s “good” economic growth is not being hit by the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant except for some isolated sectors but inflation in the euro zone’s second-biggest economy is still too high, French central banker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday.

Villeroy, who is a member of the European Central Bank’s board of governors, also reiterated to France Info radio the ECB’s determination to do whatever was needed to reduce inflation to around 2%.

He added that, given France’s notorious budget deficit, there was no justification for the government to continue with on its extensive stimulus policy to help companies through the COVID crisis.

“The ‘whatever it takes’ is not justified any more”, he said.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)