IMF calls for QE for 'critical' eurozone

Eurozone economies are in critical danger and in dire need of expansive quantitative easing measures from the ECB, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff report.

In the report, entitled "Article IV", the IMF demanded the European Central Bank lower borrowing rates and deploy further "unconventional measures" to relieve market stress. "Buying a representative portfolio of long-term government bonds - for example, defined equitably across the euro area by GDP weights - would also provide a measure of added stability to stressed sovereign markets," the IMF said. The body criticised recent attempts to stabilise the region's economy and banks as a failure, arguing a more determined approach towards a complete banking and fiscal union was needed. ...