Game changer? How $858 bn Covid-19 recovery fund will shake up EU bond mkts

The EU currently has around 54 billion euros in outstanding debt, having borrowed nothing last year and just 5 billion euros in 2018

The European Union is about to vault into the ranks of the world's biggest supranational issuers after it gave the green light to a recovery fund financed via joint debt, a move that carries the potential to shake up euro debt markets.

EU leaders have agreed a deal on a 750 billion euro ($858 billion) fund to address Covid-19 damage; together with its seven-year budget, that unlocks a total 1.8 trillion euro spending boost.

Until now, the EU as an institution has contributed a fraction of the bloc's roughly 8.5 trillion euro market of government and agency bonds. But the