The European Central Bank is determined to nip “in the bud” any fragmentation in borrowing costs between eurozone countries, its president Christine Lagarde said on Monday, warning anyone doubting this was “making a big mistake”.
Appearing before EU lawmakers in Brussels, Lagarde defended the ECB’s decision, made at an emergency meeting last week, to accelerate work on a new policy tool to counter a recent surge in the borrowing costs of more vulnerable countries. “You have to kill it in the bud,” the ECB president said.
Since the ECB voted earlier this month to begin removing some of its ultra-loose monetary policy, bond yields of weaker countries like Italy have soared faster than those for more stable countries like Germany.