ECB can boost anti-pandemic bond purchases by as much as needed

• "We are fully prepared to further adjust our instruments if warranted," Lane told an online seminar.
• This includes increasing the size of the PEPP (pandemic emergency purchase programme) and adjusting its composition

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank can expand and extend its pandemic-response programme of bond purchases "by as much as necessary and for as long as needed", its chief economist Philip Lane said on Tuesday.

"We are fully prepared to further adjust our instruments if warranted," Lane told an online seminar.

"This includes increasing the size of the PEPP (pandemic emergency purchase programme) and adjusting its composition, by as much as necessary and for as long as needed."