IMF to back ECB bond program 'within frameworks'

(WASHINGTON) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday cheered the European Central Bank's new sovereign bond buying program and said it would lend its support within its own rules.

"We strongly welcome the ECB's new framework" for intervening to buy bonds issued by heavily indebted eurozone countries, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said in a statement.

"We see the ECB's action as an important step toward strengthening stability and growth in the euro area," she said.

"Decisive implementation of the new intervention program will help repair monetary transmission, and support countries' efforts to secure finance at a reasonable cost while they undertake sustained macroeconomic adjustment."

"The IMF stands ready to cooperate within our frameworks," she added.

Earlier ECB president Mario Draghi unveiled the bond-buying program in a widely-anticipated bid to save the euro.

Draghi said the central bank would buy unlimited volumes of bonds from the secondary market with maturity of up to three years, in an effort to pull down the borrowing rates for struggling governments.

"We will do whatever it takes" to keep the eurozone together, Draghi said, adding that he would seek the IMF's involvement in setting country-specific conditions for the program as well as help in monitoring.