- BlackRock’s Larry Fink says inflation will stay higher for longer because of geopolitical issues.
- The CEO of the world’s largest asset manager explained why the US will not enter a big recession in 2023.
- That’s due to a large amount of money flowing into the economy from recent stimulus bills, Fink told CNBC.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink waved off concerns of a big recession heading for the US in 2023, but maintained that inflation will be much stickier in the near-term.
In an interview with CNBC, Fink said that the economy will not tip into a recession this year because of the enormous amount of stimulus flooding in from a slew of bills. The extra funding comes from the Infrastructure Bill, the Chips and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Those three bills are a trillion dollars of stimulus over the next few years. Think about how many jobs infrastructure creates. Think about the demand for commodities as we build infrastructure,” the head of the world’s largest asset manager said.
“We have some sectors of the economy [that] are starting to weaken, but we are going to have other segments of the economy [grow] because these tremendous fiscal stimulus [packages] are going to offset some of that.”
Fink added: “So no, I don’t see a big recession. I’m not even sure we’re going to have a recession in 2023. We may have it in early [2024] It really depends on what is the pathway of inflation in the short run.”
Despite the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening campaign, Fink says inflation will stay higher for longer because of geopolitical issues.
“We have moved away from this whole concept of globalization. We moved to fragmentation, but nobody asked [this] question. If we want to have national security for food, national security interest for chips and energy, no one’s asking this essential question at what cost?” he said, predicting a 4% inflation print. “We’re moving more and more supply chains here, but at what cost?”