Euro Area to Get Back Half What It’s Spending on War Fallout: ECB

A symphony of light consisting of bars, lines, and circles in blue and yellow, the colors of the European Union, illuminates the south facade of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 30, 2021. Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

FRANKFURT—Eurozone countries are spending more than they will get back to cushion the economic hit from the Ukraine war via fuel subsidies and other support measures, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday, telling governments to use their cash more efficiently.

The 19 countries that share the euro approved support measures worth 0.9 percent of their gross domestic product, predominantly on measures to offset a surge in energy prices.