LONDON (MNI) – The European Central Bank’s purchases of government
bonds are “ongoing”, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said Thursday.
“The SMP is ongoing, I repeat the SMP programme is ongoing,” he
said at a press conference following the ECB Council’s policy meeting.
“I will not comment on the observations of market participants.”
Trichet said that the purchases would continue to be sterilised,
using the bank’s liquidity operations: “We will continue to withdraw the
liquidity we are injecting through the SMP program with the tool that we
utilise to that end.”
“It’s not quantitative easing,” he insisted. “We are withdrawing
all the liquidity that we are injecting.”
The ECB chief said that the bank’s non-standard policies would
continue to be adjusted in light of the tensions in the financial
markets.
“We will continue to be permanently alert to have the right
monetary policy stance,” he said.
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
