11:21 GMT 25.03.2020(updated 11:58 GMT 25.03.2020) Get short URL
Europe has currently become the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic forcing the majority of the nations to shut their borders and restrict every day life activities. The International Monetary Fund earlier said it is ready to provide an additional $1 trillion to support its members during the coronavirus crisis.
Leaders of nine European Union states, including France, Spain and Italy have called in a letter for a common debt instrument to combat COVID-19, Reuters reported.
"We need to work on a common debt instrument issued by a European institution to raise funds on the market," said the letter, addressed to European Council President Charles Michel. "This common debt instrument should have sufficient size and long maturity to be fully efficient and avoid roll-over risks now as in the future".
The letter, also signed by the leaders of Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Belgium and Greece, urged the EU to "explore other tools like a specific funding for corona-related spending in the EU budget" for 2020 and 2021.
The Italian Economy Minister said yesterday that the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, should be used to help economies survive the coronavirus crisis.
He also called for the creation of a common debt instrument, which so far has been rejected by the wealthiest nations of the bloc.
The International Monetary Fund previously warned that the novel coronavirus pandemic would cause a global recession in 2020 that will be as bad as 2008 financial crisis.
Europe is currently the worst-affected continent by the new coronavirus. Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Switzerland are the most badly-hit nations with the highest number of cases. Italy and Spain, in particular, have the highest mortality rates from COVID-19 in the world.