Economics
ECB Hands Banks $203 Billion in Cheap Cash to Boost Lending
- The takeup may lift excess liquidity to 3 trillion euros
- Central bank facility is designed to encourage banks to lend
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Euro-zone banks took 174.5 billion euros ($203 billion) in another dose of ultra-cheap funding as the European Central Bank gives them every possible incentive to keep lending to the pandemic-stricken economy.
The bids for the targeted loans, known as TLTROs, came from 388 banks, and the takeup was at the high end of economists’ expectations. The loans will likely push excess liquidity in the euro zone above 3 trillion euros for the first time on record. The euro fell as much as 0.2% to $1.1633.