Economics
Shoot Now and Risk Firing Blanks: Lagarde’s Virus Dilemma at ECB
- ECB Governing Council due to announce policy decision Thursday
- Investors expect a 10bp rate cut, even if it won’t help much
Christine Lagarde.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The first crisis of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s four-month tenure will force her to decide this week whether to fire one of the few monetary-policy bullets she has left.
Days after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates, Lagarde and fellow policy makers must judge if the economic effect of the coronavirus merits cutting the euro area’s benchmark from the current minus 0.5%.