Robert Holzmann: The return of inflation!

Opening remarks by Dr Robert Holzmann, Governor of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, the Austrian central bank, at the 49th OeNB Economic Conference, Vienna, 23 May 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this year's OeNB Economic Conference and SUERF Colloquium. Let me start by thanking you all for joining us, both virtually and in person. I would also like to extend my very heartfelt gratitude to the distinguished speakers, panelists, and researchers who have agreed to join us and contribute to this event. A big "thank you" also goes to SUERF. This joint conference is yet another step in the long-standing close and fruitful cooperation which we have successfully pursued for more than two decades.

It has almost become standard to open a conference by emphasizing that its main topic "could not be timelier". Let me try and convince you that these are not just empty words when it comes to the 49th OeNB Economic Conference and 35th SUERF Colloquium. When we started out organizing this event half a year ago, we still had a question mark featuring in the conference title. Back then, for many the "return of inflation" still seemed a remote, albeit not impossible, scenario. Since then, inflation rates have surged in Europe and elsewhere to levels we have not seen for more than four decades. According to the Eurobarometer survey, inflation already represented the second most important concern of Europeans in early 2022, even before the start of the war in Ukraine.