FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has boosted its pandemic emergency support program by 600 billion euros to 1.35 trillion euros ($1.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The economy of the 19-country eurozone is forecast to shrink by 8.7% this year as it suffers from the shutdown of business during the pandemic lockdown, the European Central Bank said Thursday.
The bank’s president, Christine Lagarde, offered the estimate at a news conference after the ECB said it was nearly doubling its pandemic emergency support program.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has boosted its pandemic emergency support program by an unexpectedly large 600 billion euros to 1.35 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion) in an effort to keep affordable credit flowing to the economy during the steep downturn caused by the virus outbreak.
The new stimulus comes on top of added spending by European governments and similar stimulus efforts by the U. S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and other central banks around the globe as the world tries to cope with a sharp, simultaneous blow to both developing and rich economies.
The central bank for the 19 countries that use the euro also extended its monetary stimulus program to at least the end of June next year, from the end of 2020 currently.
ECB President Christine Lagarde will give her assessment of the economy at a news conference after the meeting, which due to the pandemic was held by teleconference among the 25 members of the bank’s governing council.
