Senior European and International Monetary Fund officials will gather Thursday at the IMF’s Washington headquarters for a discussion on Europe’s economic outlook as the region confronts slowing growth and renewed geopolitical turbulence.
The event, titled “Europe Under Pressure – Securing Growth and Resilience in a More Fragile World,” will feature two speakers: Kyriakos Pierrakakis, president of the Eurogroup, and Alfred Kammer, the outgoing director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund. The conversation is expected to focus on the mounting pressures facing Europe’s economy, including weak growth, sluggish productivity and limited fiscal room, alongside rising demands for greater spending on defense, energy security and the green and digital transitions.
The event comes as Europe confronts fresh economic risks from escalating tensions in the Middle East, which have added to volatility in global energy markets and complicated the inflation outlook for policymakers across the eurozone.
The IMF is also set to release its latest World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, outlining its forecasts for the eurozone economy this year and in 2026.The IMF has already warned that Europe is entering a period of slower expansion as geopolitical instability, elevated energy costs and persistent inflation weigh on growth. Investors and policymakers will closely watch the Fund’s revised projections for the eurozone after its previous estimate of 1.4% growth in 2025. The IMF is also expected to assess the impact of the latest Middle East crisis on inflation, competitiveness and investor sentiment, underscoring the increasingly fragile global environment facing European economies.
