The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Monday it had bought for 14.291 billion Euros of government bonds of countries in the euro area from 11 to 17 August. Its previous "purchases" were $ 22 billion the previous week. The ECB also held Tuesday a tender for deposits to a week to absorb excess liquidity caused by these operations.
August 19, its purchases of government bonds totaled 110.5 billion Euros, these measures within the scope of its outstanding program reactivated in August. Even if the ECB did not want to disclose more information about the origin of the securities purchased, it seems that the Central Bank has acquired principally Spanish and Italian bonds, continuing its policy last week.
Not surprisingly, when it's soaring rates applicable to the debt of Spain and Italy leading the institution to reactivate its procurement processes of public debt, in order to try to contain the contagion of the crisis. Overall, the ECB has bought 110.5 billion euros of shares since May 2010.
