EU Fin Mins fail to reach deal on COVID-19 response

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Brussels, April 9 (IANS) European Union (EU) Finance Ministers have failed to reach an agreement on the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic, President of the Eurogroup Mario Centeno said.

"After 16 hours of discussions, we came close to a deal but we are not there yet. I suspended the Eurogroup & continue tomorrow, Thursday," Xinhua news agency quoted Centeno as saying in a tweet on Wednesday.

"My goal remains: A strong EU safety net against fallout of #covid19 (to shield workers, firms &countries) & commit/ to a sizeable recovery plan," he said.

In a separate statement issued before the talks, Centeno said the economic response package amounted to about 540 billion euros ($586 billion).

"It is arguably the most sizable and ambitious package ever prepared by the Eurogroup. It builds on unprecedented efforts already taken by governments and monetary authorities," Centeno said in the statement.

Eying a safety net for workers, the European Commission has proposed a 100-billion-euro program to finance employment protection schemes, he said.

For businesses, the European Investment Bank proposed a 200-billion-euro guarantee to support ailing firms, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, according to the statement.

For a safety net for countries, the EU's rescue fund European Stability Mechanism has proposed precautionary credit lines of up to 240 billion euros to ensure all countries have adequate resources to respond, he said.

"We all know this is not time for business-as-usual politics," Centeno said in the statement.

The development comes as the number of global coronavirus cases has increased to 1,484,811, with 88,538 deaths since the pandemic originated in china last December.

--IANS

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