FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone states must keep fiscal spending up this year and into 2022 to protect the bloc from permanent damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an online interview with the Economist on Wednesday.
Lagarde also called on European Union leaders to kick start the bloc’s 750 billion euro Next Generation EU spending package as some economic restrictions could remain in place until the second half of the year.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Catherine Evans)
