We'll be there for Italy says Lagarde

(ANSA) - Rome, March 12 - 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.