The euro stronger against the pound this morning, as it continues to benefit from its status as a ‘funding currency’ amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Today, the markets are awaiting the ECB’s interest rate decision, with Italy under quarantine and signs of a rapid spread of the virus throughout the continent. The ECB has much less room to manoeuvre than the Bank of England or Federal Reserve, however. Christine Lagarde said on a call on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, that the situation could become as bad as 2008 if governments don’t act themselves as well as the ECB.
The EU has launched its new ‘circular economy’ plan. The policy, which has drawn opposition from businesses, plans for measures to be implemented in the future to cut waste in areas such as electronics, construction and textiles, encouraging repair and recycling over throwing out. It says that this will help increase the EU’s GDP by an extra 0.5% by 2030, as currently only 12% of materials are recycled back into the economy.
