ECB says anti-crisis measures easing euro break-up fears
(BRDO PRI KRANJU) - European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said Thursday the bank's revamped bond-purchase programme, revealed last month, is helping to ease fears of a possible break-up of the euro.
"Our decisions as regards OMT (Outright Monetary Transactions) have helped to alleviate such tensions over the past few weeks, thereby reducing concerns about the materialisation of destrucutive scenarios," Draghi told a news conference here after the bank held its key interest rates at historic lows.
Last month, the ECB revealed the OMT as its new anti-crisis bazooka, where the central bank will buy up the sovereign bonds of debt-wracked countries under strict conditions.
So far, the OMT has not actually been put to any use, but the annoucement alone has since greatly helped to ease market tensions, even if some analysts have since warned that the programme may not be the game-changer that financial market players clearly hope it will be.
Draghi insisted, however, that the ball was now in the governments' court.
"It is now essential that governments continue to implement the necessary steps to reduce both fiscal and structural imbalances and proceed with financial sector restructuring measures," he insisted.