ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta said “the euro area has so far weathered the consequences of the shock about as well as could be expected.” “Positive indications need to be taken with a pinch of salt, since the high levels of prevailing uncertainty make it difficult to rely on past regularities.”
Separately, Vice President Luis de Guindos said the central bank is ready to adapt its policy to meet the needs of EU after the coronavirus pandemic. However, “the main antidote will not be monetary policy – which we will conduct, knowing that we are not omnipotent – but rather reforms and budgetary policy of single governments.” He added that the impact of the pandemic would have been more contained had EU been more integrated at economic and monetary levels.
