“We shouldn’t start to frighten ourselves and other people. This is very bad when it comes to the economy. (…) Today there are no grounds for talk of us facing a crisis,” he told the Žinių Radijas radio station on Thursday.
The prime minister said his government was building up a reserve to prepare for possible shocks better than its predecessors had prepared for the last crisis.
“The government is accumulating reserves (…). A downturn or a slowdown may come someday. The economy will definitely not keep growing at such a rate,” Skvernelis said.
“We don’t know what might happen in a month as far as the geopolitical situation is concerned. (There may be) a conflict, a tax war, a trade war or various local conflicts. The government is responsible. We must build up reserves so as not to find ourselves in a situation we were in during the last crisis, when we had nothing,” he added.
Skvernelis expects a reserve of “over 1.5 billion euros to be accumulated through various funds” by the end of the year.