ECB’s Lagarde Downplays Strong Growth Figures Highlighted in Davos as “Noise,” Calls for Focus on Real GDP

23 January 2026

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday that several GDP figures highlighted this week at the World Economic Forum were largely “noise,” noting that many reflected nominal rather than real growth, and urged greater transparency in how such data are presented.

In a panel discussion at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, Lagarde said that there had been “a lot of noise this week” around growth figures cited by participants.

“When you hear huge growth numbers, most of them are nominal growth numbers, the real numbers are the real growth numbers … it’s important to speak the truth,” she said.

Lagarde said that honesty was essential when communicating economic data, adding that the ECB must also be transparent about the indicators it relies on, including inflation expectations and staff projections.

Asked about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s characterization of the current situation as a “rupture,” Lagarde pushed back against the term.

“We, policymakers, are at a point in which we have to look at plan B,” she said. “Even with those plans B, which have been articulated by Ursula von der Leyen, I’m not sure we should be talking about rupture, I think we should be talking about alternatives, we should be identifying—much more so than we have probably in the past—weaknesses, the sore points, the dependencies, the autonomy.”

Lagarde also noted that there had been considerable “European bashing” at the forum this week, adding that Europe remains deeply interconnected with the global economy. “We are dependent on each other,” she said.