• U lags the US in digitalisation • Digital businesses outperform non-digital ones in growth and job creation In the fight against the Coronavirus, digital technology is playing an unprecedented role in the maintenance of daily life and economic and social activities, as well as in the recovery of industry and business. The Coronavirus pandemic is becoming a tipping point for digitalisation – the dawn of a new era – by accelerating the maturity of digital technology: what was once a...

15 April, 2020 | • ECB supports the swift action taken by euro area macroprudential authorities to address the financial sector impact of the coronavirus outbreak by releasing or reducing capital buffers • Macroprudential measures will free up more than €20 billion of bank capital to absorb losses and support lending • Measures complement and reinforce microprudential measures taken by ECB The European Central Bank (ECB) supports the measures taken by euro area macroprudential authorities to address the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19)...

April 15, 2020 | Blog post by Nicolas Véron, with prior publication by PIIE and Bruegel. The new Fed rule is a material breach of Basel III, a new development as the US had hitherto been the accord’s main champion. This action undermines the global order without being ostensibly justified by narrower considerations of US national interest. The financial shock surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the US Federal Reserve to temporarily loosen an important capital-to-asset ratio requirement for American banks....

April 8, 2020 | Today, the Commission is launching ESCALAR, a new investment approach, developed together with the European Investment Fund (EIF), that will support venture capital and growth financing for promising companies, enabling them to scale up in Europe and help reinforce Europe’s economic and technological sovereignty. It will provide up to €300 million aiming to increase the investment capacity of venture capital and private equity funds, triggering investments of up to €1.2 billion, or four times the original...

April 16, 2020 |  Today’s meeting takes place against the backdrop of a global public health challenge that is having profound consequences, particularly here in Europe. Over just a few weeks, we have seen the ever-increasing impact of this virus on our citizens, our public services and our economies. I’m sure we all join in expressing our sympathies to the bereaved, our best wishes to those who are ill and our gratitude to all those who are engaged in tackling this virus,...

April 15, 2020 Tax and fiscal policy responses are playing a critical role in limiting the hardship caused by containment measures, and should continue to do so as governments seek to support households and businesses, protect employment and pursue economic recovery from the global pandemic, according to new OECD analysis. Tax and Fiscal Policy in Response to the Coronavirus Crisis, a report requested of the OECD by the Saudi G20 Presidency, was presented today during a virtual meeting of G20 Finance...

April 16, 2020 The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced that its Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility is fully operational and available to provide liquidity to eligible financial institutions, which will help support small businesses. The Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, guarantees loans extended by qualified lenders to small businesses so that those businesses can keep workers employed. The Federal Reserve's facility will support the effectiveness of the PPP by extending credit to financial institutions that make PPP loans,...

April 15, 2020 Today, the Commission, in cooperation with the President of the European Council, has put forward a European roadmap to phase-out the containment measures due to the coronavirus outbreak. While we are still in firefighting mode, the necessary extraordinary measures taken by Member States and the EU are working. They have slowed down the spread of the virus and saved thousands of lives. However, these measures and the corresponding uncertainty come at a dramatic cost to people, society and the economy,...