The European central bank announced a multi-pronged attack on the recession on Thursday (7 May), cutting interest rates by a quarter point and unveiling plans to buy €60 billion worth of bonds held by euro area banks.
The move appeared to follow the US federal reserve and the Bank of England which have already created new money this year in order to buy public and private sector assets, a process known as ‘quantitative easing'.
But the bank's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, was a...
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