NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Jane Fraser said on Friday that Europe was more likely to slip into a recession more than the United States, as she joined other global bank CEOs this week to warn about the health of the global economy.
Fraser, head of the third-largest and most globally focused U.S. bank, recently returned from a world tour with stops in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, where she said her conversations focused on “the three Rs.”
“It’s rates, it’s Russia and it’s recession,” Fraser said, speaking at an investor conference in New York.
But she said in Europe, “the energy side was really having an impact on a number of companies in certain industries that are not even competitive right now.”
“Because of the cost of electricity and the cost of energy, some of them are shutting down operations. So Europe definitely felt more likely to be heading into a recession than you see in the U.S.,” she added.
On Wednesday, JPMorgan & Chase’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon described the challenges facing the U.S. economy as akin to a “hurricane,” while Goldman Sachs’ President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron said on Thursday the current economic turmoil is one of the most challenging he has ever faced.
Fraser said she also expects U.S. equity markets to enter a period of less volatility and for the Chinese government to launch a fresh round of fiscal stimulus in the coming months, as that country begins to open up from COVID lockdowns.
In China, Fraser said she “wouldn’t be surprised to see action taken on fiscal stimulus.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and Noor Zainab Hussain; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
