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Pandemic will keep lid on central bank rates, ECB’s de Guindos says – Metro US

Pandemic will keep lid on central bank rates, ECB’s de Guindos says

European Central Bank holds a news conference in Frankfurt
European Central Bank holds a news conference in Frankfurt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The coronavirus-crisis will leave Europe will a big pile of public and corporate debt, but interest rates are also bound to stay low for longer, limiting the burden of this debt, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday.

“The outlook for interest rates will be even more moderate than pre-corona and this will be a helping hand,” de Guindos said in an online forum, adding that economic policy should now focus on keeping firms alive until the economy is ready to reopen.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Kevin Liffey)