ECB’s Lagarde Pledges No Premature Removal of Monetary Support

• European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde pledged not to remove monetary support until the coronavirus crisis is over, reinforcing her message that central banks and fiscal authorities must work together.
• “Macroeconomic policies in the euro area have acted forcefully, geared toward protecting productive capacity and jobs,” she said in an interview with the Harvard International Review published Wednesday. “We should guard against the premature withdrawal of these support measures.”
• Most economists expect the central bank to increase stimulus by boosting its 1.35 trillion-euro ($1.6 trillion) bond-buying program before the end of the year. Lagarde spoke a day after she and ECB chief economist Philip Lane called on governments to keep up their support, with the president warning against creating a “cliff-edge” that undoes progress so far.

(Source: Bloomberg)