In my opinion, there can be no question of further increasing the general government deficits in order to try to engineer a short-term cyclical stimulus. The real challenge lies in implementing wide-ranging structural reforms to create confidence in the sustainability of public finances, thereby supporting macroeconomic momentum. However, it is no easy task to implement reforms of this kind in Germany.
The Canadian-born economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who passed away nearly ten years ago, is credited with the caustic remark that "meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything." With regard to the Finance Forum Liechtenstein, that's most certainly not a view that I would espouse.