(Bloomberg) --

Europe is likely to experience a more severe recession than the rest of the world, but growth should start in the second half of the year, the European Central Bank’s vice president said.

A genuine recovery might take until 2021, but the first signs of growth should be visible starting in the third quarter of the year, Luis de Guindos said in an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia and published on the ECB’s website.

“With all these measures now in play, Europe is better equipped to respond to this unprecedented crisis,” Guindos said in the interview.

The ECB last month launched a 750 billion-euro ($820 billion) emergency program of purchases in response to what’s likely to be the euro area’s worst crisis in decades.

Guindos said additional government spending to counter the impact of the virus “will entail greater funding needs, of between 1 trillion euros and 1.5 trillion euros, an amount the likes of which we’ve probably never seen before.”

Debt levels in the euro area are sustainable, despite increased bond issues, Guindos said. The ECB’s actions aim to avoid fragmentation as governments seek to finance their needs, he said.

“We are not looking at any scenarios where this debt is a problem,” Guindos said. “It’s not a scenario I’m considering.”

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