ECB bought more bonds than ever last week
The European Central Bank bought 36.8 billion euros of bonds last week, more than ever before, as it sought to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down most of the eurozone’s economies.
With the 19-country currency bloc’s economy expected to contract sharply in 2020, the ECB is on course to buy 1.1 trillion euros’ worth of bonds this year, as well as providing cash to banks on unprecedentedly easy terms.
Data on Tuesday showed the central bank bought 20.6 billion euros worth of assets under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP), which covers public and private sector securities including junk-rated Greek bonds, in the week to April 13.
While this was less than the 30.2 billion euros bought in the week before, when the program was launched, the difference was more than offset by larger purchases of government (13.4 billion euros) and covered bonds (1.2 billion euros) as part of separate stimulus schemes.
[Reuters]
