FRANKFURT, April 30 — The ECB’s new pandemic emergency bond-buying scheme could run beyond 2020, chief Christine Lagarde said today, describing the asset purchases as "the best tool” in the bank’s battle against the coronavirus fallout.

The €750 billion (RM3.5 trillion) Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), launched last month, "might be extended further than the end of 2020” depending on "the length of the crisis”, Lagarde told reporters in Frankfurt.

"The best tool we have in our toolbox is indeed the PEPP,” she added, vowing "full flexibility” to help the battered eurozone economy. — AFP