PARIS (MNI) – The European Central Bank’s government bond
purchasing program is still in place even though the ECB did not
purchase any securities last week, the central bank’s president,
Jean-Claude Trichet, said Thursday.
“Our SMP [Securities Markets Programme] is ongoing, and it is true
as you have seen that we did not intervene on the markets during the
period of five working days [last week], but the program is ongoing,”
Trichet said.
He declined to respond directly to a question about whether the ECB
favored allowing the European Financial Stability Facility [EFSF] to
take over the function of buying bonds — a potential policy shift being
mulled behind the scenes by EU finance ministers and other political
leaders. But he hinted in that direction, reiterating the ECB’s support
for enhancing both the scope and size of the EFSF.
“As regards the decision that will be taken by governments, both
for the stabilization fund and the permanent fund, I would only repeat
what I already said, which is we call for the utilization of this
present stability fund to be as flexible as possible and to be as
effective as possible in terms of magnitude,” he said.
Asked what he thought about recent reports of plans under which
either Greece or the EFSF would buy the sovereign bonds sitting on the
ECB’s own books, Trichet said he had “absolutely no comment.”
–Paris Newsroom, +331-42-71-55-40; bwolfson@marketnews.com
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