Do you think that the measures adopted last week by the Eurogroup are enough to deal with the severity of the problem, or should the finance ministers have gone further? With coronabonds, for example, or similar solutions. The agreement made was a commitment that goes in the right direction. It’s important to remember that. To reach a compromise, everyone has to give way a little and to believe in it. The agreement is a sign of political commitment. As for other possible measures, such as coronabonds, the ECB has always been in favour of the existence of a fiscal instrument at European level that can complement monetary policy. It is just that this is a political decision. We are in favour of it, we think it would be a good thing for the euro area, but we will see what happens. The European Council meets on 23 April. We consider it to be a useful instrument, but it is not up to the ECB. It’s for the European governments to decide. 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  And what do you expect will happen? Do you think that it’s possible to reach a political agreement to take this step towards coronabonds or is it just a dream? I couldn’t possibly say what will happen. All I can say is that the current situation is difficult and that the commitment made by the Eurogroup was positive, but let’s see. The possibility of a recovery fund being set up is a good idea.
Luis de Guindos: Interview in Expresso Interview with Mr Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, and Expresso, conducted by Mr João Silvestre on 15 April 2020. * * *  Is this the greatest crisis in living memory? According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this will be the worst downturn since the Great Depression. There is a great deal of uncertainty and, given this degree of uncertainty, we need to define and analyse several scenarios. The IMF’s baseline scenario is very similar to other public and private sector forecasts. It’s important to bear in mind that the impact on the economy, which will be huge, is concentrated in the second quarter of the year – as well as in March – and that the impact will be severe, but temporary. This temporary aspect is important. The calculations point to a contraction in the second quarter by as much as 20% compared with the previous quarter. And it will also have an impact on public finances and the financial markets. Despite the uncertainty you have mentioned, is a rapid recovery possible in 2021? The key factor is the duration of the lockdown – the longer it lasts, the greater the impact. We hope that the containment measures will start to be eased over the coming months, reducing the negative impact on the economy, and that we will see a return to positive growth rates in the second half of the year.