The interventions of the Spanish representatives at the Davos world economic forum begin. It was the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, who during her participation in a round table showed convinced of the growth potential of the world economy while in the case of Europe he has asked public authorities to create the appropriate framework that encourages investment because “Europe runs the risk of becoming a museum.”
Specifically, the president of Banco Santander, responding to some American economists who define Europe disparagingly with the term “museum”, was firm in her response and explanations and assured that «We are not a museum. We are at risk of becoming a museum. But who develops, for example, the latest vaccines? I mean, a lot of the innovation is in Europe; We have a lot of startups. The problem is that many companies start their work here and then go to the United States. I think Europe has a great opportunity to lead.”
“We just need to do more and faster and, for once, be ahead of the United States,” Botín added before considering that Europe should take the risk and show its concern about the tariffs that may be placed on European products and services with the arrival, and the threats that confirm it, of the new president Donald Trump.
Botín has also pointed out that economic growth is the basis of prosperity and stability in the future, although he has pointed out that “there is a big difference if the world economy grows 3% or 5%.” This difference, the president of Santander has estimated, is 3 billion dollars or 500 dollars per inhabitant. “It is an enormous amount of money that would allow us to pay the debt faster and allow us to reduce inequality,” he stated.
Precisely, to make the economy grow, Botín has extolled the importance of the private sectorthe one that has the greatest possibilities of creating wealth and then redistributing it, in a world “increasingly fragmented, with geopolitical tensions and the challenge of sustainability and artificial intelligence.”
Botín has extolled that Europe continues to account for 5% of the world’s population and 20% of the planet’s economy, although at this time is at a “crossroads” in which he can still do things very well.
“We just need to do more and faster and, for once, be ahead of the United States,” he added before considering that Europe should take “more risk” and show its concern about the tariffs that may be placed on products and services. European services.
Continue betting on the United Kingdom
In a week in which there is a lot of talk about the plans of the entity he presides in the United Kingdomafter the ‘Financial Times’ published on Sunday that the bank is studying the sale of its business in that country twenty years after purchasing the Abbey National bank, Botín reaffirmed his interest in the British market: “we love the United Kingdom. It is a key market and will continue to be a key market in the future. Period,” said the head of the Spanish entity bluntly.
Ana Botín has participated in a panel in which has debated the ‘Future of Growth’, moderated by ‘CNBC’ journalist, Steve Sedgwick, and also included Adena Friedman, president and CEO of Nasdaq, Faisal Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia, and Lawrence H. Summers, economist and secretary of the United States Treasury under President Bill Clinton.
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