© Reuters.
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com – The European Central Bank said on Thursday that it will increase the size of its most important program to buy $ 600 billion ($ 672 billion) of pandemic bonds, thus boosting its efforts to support a eurozone economy expected to fall by more than 8% this year.
The ECB also said after its regular council meeting that it will extend its purchases under the pandemic emergency procurement program to at least mid-next year. “In any case, the Governing Council will make net purchases of assets under PEPP until it considers it the coronavirus crisis phase is over, ”it added.
The bank made no other significant changes to its policy position, as its key rates remained unchanged as expected and did not change the total volume of its other bond purchases, which will continue to run at € 20 billion a month.
The euro hit its highest level in almost three months against the dollar in the news, reflecting that a minority of investors had expected a further cut in the deposit rate of -0.5%. At 7:57 PM ET (1157 GMT), the euro rose 0.3% to $ 1.1268, just above the previous high of $ 1.1272.
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