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| - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday welcomed the European Central Bank's massive 750-billion-euro bond buying stimulus package designed to help economies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. "Europe did it! Strong, resonant, commensurate to the severity of the health crisis we are facing and the economic shock it is causing," Conte tweeted. "Well done, ECB." The ECB unveiled an emergency $820-billion scheme to pump cash into the economy by buying additional government and corporate bonds until a least the end of the year. Italy has sparred with new ECB chief Christine Lagarde, whose comments last week that she was "not here to close spreads" between interest rates of member states resulted in the borrowing costs of Italy shooting up. "The task of the central bank must be not to hinder but to help (government) interventions, creating favourable conditions for them," Conte had told Lagarde last Thursday. Italy shut down most businesses on March 11 to fight an outbreak that has killed almost 3,000 in the Mediterranean country. It is on course to overtake China for most COVID-19 deaths this week. Top European Union leaders also welcomed the ECB's stimulus package and vowed they would do whatever it takes to protect the bloc's economy. Brussels expects social and economic lock downs imposed to contain the global coronavirus epidemic to have a devastating effect on business, and leaders are scrambling to reassure the markets. Late Wednesday, the ECB unveiled a Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme that will see it return to making massive purchases of government and corporate bonds as it did during the eurozone debt crisis as means to inject liquidity into the markets and ensure businesses can borrow and spend. "Europe is pursuing a forceful economic response to the #CoronaCrisis," tweeted Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, which represents EU member state governments. "No efforts will be spared to contain #COVID19 and shield our economies from further damage. I welcome the Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) from the ECB. #WhateverItTakes." The speaker of the European Parliament, which is considering holding a virtual session by video conference to vote on emergency measures, also deployed the same motivational hashtag. "The ECB is securing the European economy by protecting families, workers and businesses," tweeted David Sassoli, whose debt-plagued native Italy is one of the most exposed EU member countries. Eurozone stock markets pushed higher on Thursday as investors digested the ECB move and its president Christine Lagarde's promise that there "are no limits to our commitment to the euro." zak-burs/rl/lc
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