Italy pushes for €200 billion defence plan using EU guarantees - Reuters
Italy plans to propose to its European guarantee scheme that could potentially trigger investments worth up to 200 billion euros ($216.48 billion) in the defence and aerospace industries, per Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti will present the plan at a meeting of European Union finance ministers later on Monday in Brussels.
The European Union (EU) is exploring ways to strengthen defence spending through joint borrowing, EU funds, and an expanded role for the European Investment Bank (EIB), with decisions expected by June.
Market reaction
At the press time, the EUR/USD pair is up 0.09% on the day to trade at 1.0845.
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The Euro is the currency for the 19 European Union countries that belong to the Eurozone. It is the second most heavily traded currency in the world behind the US Dollar. In 2022, it accounted for 31% of all foreign exchange transactions, with an average daily turnover of over $2.2 trillion a day. EUR/USD is the most heavily traded currency pair in the world, accounting for an estimated 30% off all transactions, followed by EUR/JPY (4%), EUR/GBP (3%) and EUR/AUD (2%).
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