European Central Bank President
Christine Lagarde said Thursday the ECB would "be there" to help
Italy face the economic and financial fallout from the
coronavirus emergency.
She said the ECB's instruments were "available to Italy, we
are working against fragmentation (of the eurozone), we will be
there, there should be no doubt about that".
She said that if necessary the central bank may deviate from
the rule that lays down purchasing national bonds in proportion
to the stake each country has in the ECB's capital.
Lagarde earlier said the QE programme would be upped to 120
billion euros this year but did not cut interest rates and
stopped short of saying the ECB would do "everything it takes",
in predecessor Mario Draghi's words, to stem the virus
emergency.
Stocks dropped sharply after her intervention and the
Italo-German bond spread spiked.
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