Economics
ECB Seen With Only One Choice Tomorrow to Avoid Market Rout
- Less than a third of ECB’s emergency program has been spent
- Investors and economists still expect an increase this week
The European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
European Central Bank policy makers face the peculiar situation this week of being widely expected to announce more monetary stimulus well before they run out of the ammunition still to hand.
The ECB has so far spent less than a third of the 750 billion-euro ($840 billion) pandemic emergency purchase program that it started in March. At the current pace, it could wait until its July or September meeting before judging whether the program is big enough to soak up the debt issued by governments to fight the recession.