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The European Central Bank, faced with a further slowdown in euro zone growth after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, will soon be forced to extend and expand the scope of its asset purchase program, a Reuters poll of economists showed.
Apart from purchasing 80 billion euros a month of bonds beyond March 2017, economists said the ECB is likely to abandon an earlier self-imposed restriction and begin buying bonds with negative yields below the ECB's -0.40 percent deposit rate.
It could also raise the limit on how much it can buy of each bond issue that is not protected by collective action clauses, according to the poll, which foresees no further interest rate cuts or increases to monthly asset purchases.
The ECB is not expected to make any changes to policy at its meeting on Thursday.
ECB to extend timeframe, loosen restrictions on bond purchases
Apart from purchasing 80 billion euros a month of bonds beyond March 2017, economists said the ECB is likely to abandon an earlier self-imposed restriction and begin buying bonds with negative yields below the ECB's -0.40 percent deposit rate.
It could also raise the limit on how much it can buy of each bond issue that is not protected by collective action clauses, according to the poll, which foresees no further interest rate cuts or increases to monthly asset purchases.
The ECB is not expected to make any changes to policy at its meeting on Thursday.
ECB to extend timeframe, loosen restrictions on bond purchases