European Central Bank chief: No data suggests stagflation

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The European Central Bank’s president says no data currently suggests that Europe will fall into stagflation, which is a combination of high inflation, little or no economic growth and high unemployment. Christine Lagarde told a Bank of Cyprus conference in the Cypriot capital on Wednesday that at this time, “we don’t have the two elements that characterize” stagflation — a drawn-out recession and inflation that continues to rise. Lagarde says that although inflation will “no doubt” increase this year because of high fuel and food prices, the bank doesn’t forecast it will keep rising and would eventually decline to “our target of 2%.”