Italy's Conte: Government to set aside 25 billion euros to help economy

The Italian government has set aside a total of 25 billion euros to help the economy in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, said Italian Prime Minister Conte on Wednesday. 

There was a very positive response from the EU to Italy's needs Conte noted. "It is necessary to use all available instruments on the EU level to confront the virus emergency."

In the meantime, Italy's economy minister said that they will ask the EU to increase the 2020 deficit spending to 20 billion euros from 12 billion euros. "The government is examining measures to support companies' liquidity levels," the minister added. "Some measures could be financed through EU funds, taking the burden off Italy's public accounts."

EUR/USD reaction

The shared currency largely ignored these comments and the EUR/USD pair was last seen trading at 1.1315, adding 0.3% on a daily basis.