Italy and Spain to get lion’s share of EU recovery fund

The European Commision will propose later today that Italy and Spain — the countries most affected by the coronavirus epidemic — get the lion’s share of a new recovery fund offering a mix of grants and loans, a senior EU official said.

Out of a total of 750 billion euros that the Commission is to borrow for the recovery fund, Italy is to get 173 billion, of which 82 billion would be grants and 91 billion would be loans.

Spain could be getting a total of 140 billion of which 77 billion would be grants and 63 billion loans.

European shares inched higher on Wednesday as investors focused on a fresh stimulus plan for the European Union, while renewed U.S.-China tensions over Hong Kong tempered optimism about a global economic recovery.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.4% in early deals, led by banks, travel and leisure stocks, and automakers.

The eurozone stock index also gained 0.4%, with the European Commission set to unveil a plan to help the EU economy recover from its coronavirus slump with a mix of grants, loans and guarantees exceeding 1 trillion euros.

Reuters

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