Mario Draghi rejects global recession fears and says refugee crisis is an opportunity

Davos audience hears ECB president play down fears of global downturn and says EU can boost growth if it copes together with the refugee influx

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, has said coping with the refugee crisis will be a boost for growth and brushed aside fears that the turmoil in global markets heralds the start of a recession.

Draghi said it was important that Europe worked together to turn the challenge of coping with refugees into an opportunity and said one knock-on impact would be higher public spending.

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