Unlike the US and China, the bloc doesn’t have the money to pursue innovation, Oleg Deripaska has said
The European Union looks particularly “sad” amid the ongoing global economic slowdown due to a lack of technology and finances to institute structural changes and invest in innovation, Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.
While the world economy is facing anemic growth, the US delivered its answer to the headwinds back in 2022 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Deripaska, who used to head up aluminum giant Rusal, said.
He was referring to Washington’s strategy to “promote growth and address long-standing structural issues relating to income inequality, racial disparities and climate change,” as outlined by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Deripaska noted that the strategy, which eventually resulted in the Inflation Reduction Act, has spurred more than $500 billion in announced investments in human capital, clean energy, and high-tech manufacturing.
The businessman went on to cite the example of China, which plans to capitalize on its huge untapped domestic market and is also investing heavily in developing a digital and low-carbon economy.
“Meanwhile Europe, has neither access to a large untapped market, nor the necessary technologies, or the money for these innovations and structural changes,” Deripaska wrote.
“According to various estimates, Europe needs about $5.2 trillion to implement the energy transition. And the inability to agree among themselves on priority areas for investment only exacerbates the problem,” he added.
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