IAN’s Week in Review: EU’s Financial Response to COVID

The EU Council met this week, with mixed results. While no exact details were agreed on, Germany helped move closer to a consensus on a EU Commission debt emmission to fund financial support due to the coronavírus. The question remains whether those funds will be distributed through loans (which require repayment) or loans (which result in fiscal transfers between countries). Hear our podcast on this issue here.

Meanwhile, the ECB will meet next Thursday to discuss monetary policy. There is a possibility that it might open its asset purchases to so-called “fallen angels”, i.e., firms that recently lost their investment grade.

Countries are starting to open-up the economy, Germany started opening shops last week. france, Italy and Spain all announced plans to gradually reopen businesses but there is still much uncertainty about how fast it should be done.

International press review:

Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported, Mortality statistics show 111,000 deaths in excess of normal levels across 14 countries analysed by the FT