- ECB President Mario Draghi
The European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pointed out that the bond-buying programme is more important now, as policy makers in other countries are pondering to introduce radical shifts into their policy. The ECB's asset-purchase programme, known as the Outright Monetary Transaction, helped to stabilize the shared currency and made the Eurozone a more resilient place for investments than one year ago. Even though the programme was launched late last summer, the ECB has not actually used it and has not purchased any bonds under it.
Under Mario Draghi's leadership the struggling 17-nation economy is starting to show some signs of stabilization in business and consumer sentiment, while the overall economic outlook still warrants an accommodative stance. Despite brightening outlook, German Bundesbank expressed its strongest scepticism against the OMT programme. Earlier in June Draghi defended his views and instruments in Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, as German authorities put under scrutiny the effectiveness of the OMT. Mario Draghi also assured that the ECB's main objective is to maintain price stability in the region, however, he agreed that differences between the ECB and German central bank are inevitable.
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