More Money Printing Madness Out of the European Central Bank

ECB president Christine Lagarde

This morning, the European Central Bank announced a new series of long-term loans for banks and cut the rate on its existing program.

The minimum interest rates charged on loans offered as part of its targeted longer-term refinancing operations — know as TLTROs — will now be 50 basis points below the average interest rate on the bank’s main refinancing operations, meaning that banks will be able to borrow more cheaply.

This is on top of previous ECB money printing schemes

The bank has already purchased around €150 billion in eurozone bonds in the six weeks since it launched its coronavirus bond-buying program, which is designed to curb the borrowing costs of badly hit countries like Italy and Spain.

This all will, of course, put upward pressure on prices in the eurozone and keep the euro in the race to the bottom against the US dollar and most other currencies.

-RW