ECB’s Lagarde says euro zone recovery still fragile

Reuters, FRANKFURT, July 2 – In an interview released on Friday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde claimed that the euro zone economy is beginning to recover from a pandemic-induced depression, but that the recovery is still fragile. Policymakers at the European Central Bank have begun debating when they should reduce their emergency bond purchases, which have injected almost a trillion euros into the financial system since the outbreak began. Lagarde stated that she was not yet ready to phase out the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP). “We agreed to keep (PEPP) in place until at least March 2022, and in any event, until the coronavirus crisis phase is finished,” she told the local French newspaper La Provence. “While the recovery is starting to take shape, it is still fragile.” Jens Weidmann of Germany and Robert Holzmann of Austria were the first ECB governors to openly discuss the possibility of slowing down the 1.85 trillion euro program as the economy improves on Monday. find out more Fabio Panetta, an Italian member of the ECB’s Executive Board, urged on the same day against withdrawing support too quickly because the pandemic was not yet finished. Francesco Canepa contributed reporting, while Alison Williams and John Stonestreet edited the piece. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles are our standards./nRead More