Economy

Euro falls after ECB official says fresh round of loans possible

Longer term refinancing options being discussed, Benoît Coeuré said

Photograph: iStock

Sarah Provan in London
Fri Feb 15 2019 - 15:01

The euro dipped towards a near two-year low on Friday after a top European Central Bank official floated the possibility of another round of long-term loans to banks and said the eurozone's slowdown is worse than thought.

Speaking in New York on Friday, Benoît Coeuré, a member of the ECB executive board, said that targeted longer-term refinancing operations are “being discussed”.

The euro fell to as low as $1.1231 on Friday, the lowest since November 12th and close to a near two-year low of June 2017. It was recently trading about 0.4 per cent lower against the dollar.

Mr Coeuré said that the eurozone’s path of inflation will be shallower while its economic slowdown will be “stronger and broader” than expected, a Reuters report said.

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Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, he said that the euro and US dollar have lost ground as international reserve currencies.

Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, avoided slipping into a technical recession by the narrowest of margins, according to this week's figures from the national statistics office. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019

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