Refugees represent both challenge, opportunity for Europe: ECB president

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi on Friday said refugees were both a challenge and an opportunity for Europe. However, it was tough to say how long it would take to transform the challenge into opportunity, he added.

"It's a challenge for sure. It would be foolish to ignore the size, the extent of the challenge. Our society will be changed by this. In which direction, we can only guess," Draghi told the World Economic Forum.

He pointed out additional expenditure would be necessary by governments to cope with the refugees, which could spark some recovery in the euro area.

Expenditure in large public investment projects, together with an accommodative monetary policy as well as the broadly neutral and even a slightly expansionary fiscal policy, could ensure the continuation of the eurozone recovery, Draghi said.

Addressing the Greek debt crisis, Draghi said "we are in a much better situation than we were in last June."

Deficit target of the Greek government for 2018 and 2019 should be set, and reforms should remain on track, especially in the financial sector, he said.

Draghi said it was entirely natural for the monetary policy of the United States and the euro area to differ. Their divergence reflected in different interest rates, he said.

The ECB held its key interest rates at record low levels on Thursday and planned to "reconsider" its monetary policy early March in a bid to lift weak inflation and stimulate the economy. Endit