ECB keeps its foot on the brake pedal and purchases 494 million euros of Portuguese debt

  • ECO News
  • 3 October 2017

The European Central Bank (ECB) continues decreasing the purchase of Portuguese debt. Once again, the central bank purchased less than 500 million euros in September.

The European Central Bank (ECB) continues decreasing their purchases of the Portuguese debt. It acquired 494 million euros in September, more than in August, but still keeping their purchases below the 500 million euros’ threshold.

The total amount invested by ECB in Portuguese bonds within the PSPP (the public sector purchase programme) increased to 29,570 million euros. This increase takes place after the ECB purchased just 414 million in August — a historical low.

Since April of 2017, the ECB has been decreasing the amount of the country’s public debt. The only inversion of this tendency took place in July, with a 517 million investment, higher than the two previous months.

The entity headed by Mario Draghi has been acquiring pretty much one third of the monthly amount of Portuguese debt it could purchase, as the monthly purchase programme of 60 billion euros, which is being enforced for 30 months, is coming to an end. Draghi has been giving away signs that the announcement of the end of the Euro Area stimuli programme is close, but has been cautious in order to avoid tension in the debt market.