New variants of the coronavirus could still derail the growth rebound seen in Europe, according to the EU’s economics chief, as the region deals with another surge in infections.

Paolo Gentiloni, the EU’s commissioner for economics and taxation, said that it’s “too soon to declare victory” over the pandemic, despite lofty GDP projections for this year.

Russia did not cause Europe’s energy crisis — but it didn’t help, and instead tried to benefit from the situation, according to Amos Hochstein, the U.S. State Department’s senior advisor for global energy security.

“It sure didn’t do anything that it could to alleviate [the energy crunch], and in fact, took advantage of it,” Hochstein told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Wednesday.

BUSINESSAMLIVE- Nigeria statistical agency, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has indicated that the country’s economic growth slowed to 1.95 percent in first quarter of 2018, from 2.11 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.