GETTY ECB president Mario Draghi

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The central bank's mammoth money-printing progamme will now run until December 2017, and potentially longer, after originally being scheduled to finish in March. Under the so-called Quantitative Easing (QE) programme, an extra €80bn (£68bn) is currently pushed into the eurozone each month, from April this wil be reduced to €60bn (£51bn), said the ECB. Monetary policymakers at the bank promised to alter the money-printing programme up or down if the outlook for the eurozone worsened or changed for the better. In a chilling warning for the eurozone's future, ECB President Mario Draghi today said: "Uncertainty prevails; uncertainty prevails everywhere." The ECB's action comes amid fears Italy's troubled banks, and political turmoil in Rome, could create problems for the eurozone recovery in the coming months. Addressing the issue today, Mr Draghi said problems within the banking system in Italy "have been there for a long time". He added: "I'm confident the government knows what to do and it will be dealt with."

GETTY Mario Draghi and the ECB extended the eurozone money-printing programme

Pouring yet more cash into the bloc - and for longer than expected - caused European markets to surge, with Britain's top stock index the FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC all clocking up gains. The euro initially strengthened off the back of the announcement before slipping against the pound and the dollar. Interest rates were kept on hold, with the key deposit rate still in negative territory at -0.4 per cent. The ECB's was expected to action amid worringly low growth and inflation, along with high unemployment in the bloc. The economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, while inflation was at 0.6 per cent in November. The economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, while inflation was at 0.6 per cent in November.

There are also fears the bloc could stall further in coming months amid Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) and political turmoil created by the resignation of Italy's Prime Minister. French and German elections next year are another drag on growth prospects. Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index Direct, said: "The ECB has said that it will extend its QE programme out to December next year, however, from April to December asset purchases will be EUR 60 bn per month, EUR 20bn less than the current monthly purchases. "This is a shocker, but probably to be expected, after all, the ECB has made sure that its QE programme will easily see it through the EU’s political risk events set for next year and the German elections scheduled for next September.



"Was the statement dovish or less dovish than expected? The answer is both… The extension to QE is much longer than we expected, but the tapering announcement is almost hawkish, a mere three days after the Italian’s voted No in its referendum."