5 Min Read
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - As the euro zone begins to emerge from the depths of a pandemic-induced recession, the European Central Bank is facing a difficult balancing act between supporting indebted governments and keeping creditors onside.
FILE PHOTO: A man uses cash to pay for items while shopping in Milan, Italy, October 2, 2020. Picture taken October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo/File Photo
Encouraged by the ECB’s massive bond purchase programme and ultra-low interest rates, national governments have taken on a mountain of new borrowing to cushion the coronavirus pandemic, pushing total public debt to 102% of the region’s output.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
BRASILIA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Brazil’s Congress will next week analyze a constitutional amendment that aims to revive emergency cash transfers to millions of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said on Thursday.
Emergency aid to over 60 million Brazilians as the COVID-19 pandemic raged last year expired on Dec. 31, but a second wave of the virus and a faltering economic recovery have forced the government to extend it, albeit at lower rates.
Pacheco was speaking to reporters after meeting with Lower House leader Arthur Lira and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to discuss the emergency aid and cuts in other areas of the federal budget to compensate for the increased spending.
A gauge of global equity markets snapped a three-day losing streak to inch higher on Friday as investors sold technology shares and rotated into economically sensitive cyclical stocks in anticipation the U.S. economy will boom on pent-up demand once the coronavirus pandemic.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
WARSAW, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Poland’s central bank should consider raising its main interest rate to 0.5% in the second half 2021 because of rising inflation, rate-setter Eugeniusz Gatnar said.
Poland’s benchmark rate has been at a record low 0.1% since rate-setters cut it three times by a cumulative 140 basis points during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
“. If the number of infections does not increase as a result of the current easing of the restrictions and inflation continues to rise, then we should consider raising rates to 0.5% in the second half of the year,” Gatnar wrote in response to questions from Reuters.