ECB Will Keep Countries on Straight and Narrow Even If It Buys Their Debt: Lagarde

ECB Will Keep Countries on Straight and Narrow Even If It Buys Their Debt: Lagarde
President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde addresses a news conference following the meeting of the Governing Council's monetary in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 10, 2022. Daniel Roland/Pool via Reuters
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SINTRA, Portugal—The European Central Bank’s upcoming bond-buying program will curb rising borrowing costs for vulnerable eurozone countries while keeping up pressure on their governments to repair their budgets, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday.

With the ECB nearing its first interest rate hike in over a decade, bond yields for Italy and other indebted countries have surged and the spread they pay over safe-haven Germany has widened.