ECB governers to meet at 4pm

Governors of the European Central Bank are to hold an emergency meeting at 4pm today on the debt crisis in Europe and the United States.

It is understood officials are thinking of buying Italian and Spanish debt in an effort to ease

the turmoil on the international financial markets before they re-open tomorrow morning.

But officials at the ECB are said to be divided on the matter, with some saying the Italian and Spanish governments should implement harsher austerity measures.

It comes after the worst week of trading on the markets since the crash of 2008.

Finance Minister from the G7 group of nations will also hold a phone meeting later to discuss their response to the global debt crisis.

Economics lecturer at the Smurfit Business School Ray Kinsella said he did not think these emergency meetings will make any difference.

"The policies pursued in the eurozone have failed," he said "If emergency summits could have solved the problem, it would be solved by now. In fact, it's got worse."