ECB's Lagarde says euro zone economy still on crutches

The euro zone economy is still standing on the "two crutches" of monetary and fiscal stimulus and these cannot be taken away until there is a full recovery, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.

"Think of a patient which is out of a deep crisis but still on two crutches," Lagarde told a Reuters Breakingviews event.

"You don't want to remove either crutch, the fiscal or the monetary, until the patient can actually walk fine and to do that means support well into the recovery." (Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Jon Boyle)