(Bloomberg) -- Europe is suffering from low productivity and will need to rethink fundamentals to change tack, according to Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan.

“Productivity — what you get out of one hour of work — isn’t growing properly and it needs structural reforms to make the economies more competitive so that productivity increases,” Jordan told Swiss broadcaster SRF. “That’s one of the biggest challenges.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the spring meetings of International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, the central bank chief also said that the US has an advantage because of higher fiscal spending there, while elevated energy prices weigh on Europe.

The euro-area economy will see growth of just 0.8% in 2024, much less than the 2.8% predicted for the US, according to IMF forecasts published this week. Switzerland is seen outperforming its neighbors, with the fund predicting a 1.3% increase in output.

This is Jordan’s final appearance at the IMF as SNB chief — he announced earlier this year that he’ll be exiting the central bank at the end of September. Switzerland’s government has yet to announce a successor. 

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