The head of the industrial giant Siemens has publicly voiced his fears of economic “repercussions” following the Paris attacks in an interview published on Monday by British daily the Financial Times. “My biggest concern is the repercussions of geopolitical anxiety,” explained Joe Kaeser, the first European CEO to express such fears.
“Investment relies on confidence, on the future, and (when) events such as these take place, people are inclined to hold off investing,” he added.
For the moment, opinion is divided upon the possible consequences of the Paris attacks. Certain analysts are pointing out the risk of economic slowdown, in particular if border controls are tightened up within the Eurozone.
Yet investors have not shown any signs of panic during the past week. The main stock exchanges dropped a little during the first few days of trading, before recovering and ending the week largely in the black. The attacks on September 11th, 2001 in New York (USA) caused a fall in American consumer confidence, without thankfully leading to a full-blown economic crisis.
(Source: Belga)
