Headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Getty Images The European Central Bank on Thursday added €500 billion ($600 billion) to its pandemic-specific asset-buying program, warning that “uncertainty remains high, including with regard to the dynamics of the pandemic and the timing of [Covid] vaccine rollouts.” The central bank, which as expected kept its key interest rate steady, also announced more favorable terms for its cheap liquidity facilities for the banking system. Banks that keep lending to businesses and households will benefit from the negative rate of minus 1% until June, 2022 - in other words, the ECB will pay them to borrow from the facility.