Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is under pressure from his coalition to quickly broaden his majority but has made little progress since narrowly surviving an attempt to sink the government, political sources said.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank warned on Thursday that the recent surge in COVID-19 infections posed a risk to the euro zone’s recovery and reaffirmed its pledge to keep borrowing costs at record lows to help the economy weather the pandemic.
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde in Frankfurt, Germany, March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Having extended stimulus well into next year in December, the central bank for the 19 countries that share the euro kept policy unchanged, keen to let governments take over the task of keeping the economy afloat until business can resume as usual.
By Reuters Staff
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LONDON (Reuters) - The Paris Club of international creditors said on Monday it had accepted a request from Kenya for a debt-servicing suspension from January to the end of June.
“Kenya is committed to devote the resources freed by this initiative to increase spending in order to mitigate the health, economic and social impact of the COVID19-crisis,” the Paris Club said in a statement on its website.
Kenya is also committed to seeking from other bilateral official creditors debt-servicing treatment in line with the agreed terms of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) of the G20 group of rich nations and big emerging powers, the creditors added in their statement.
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Thursday and revised up its economic forecast for next fiscal year, signalling that it has delivered sufficient stimulus for now to cushion the blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Africa's rand firmed in early trade on Thursday, as optimism that the new U.S. administration will unveil massive stimulus package to bolster growth boosted demand for riskier but higher-yielding currencies.