MNI BRIEF: International Role Of The Euro Crucial Now -Lagarde

The international role of the euro can no longer remain a secondary issue in the context of trade tensions and global fragmentation, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Tuesday, noting it was crucial to move from being a safe-haven currency to being a truly global one. 

Lagarde said that there is not a correlation between being a global safe haven and the strength of the currency, which she accepted was an additional burden for manufacturers, adding that the fundamental task to increase the international role of the euro was removing the obstacles that are preventing the Eurozone from having truly integrated product and capital markets that can compete with those in the U.S.

Europe must create the conditions and liquidity "for those outside Europe to use the euro more when conducting transactions so that we can benefit from more invoicing in euro,” she said.