European Central Bank President Mario Draghi discussed the possibility of the ECB purchasing Greek bonds, during a press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday.
Draghi clarified that for the ECB to purchase Greek bonds, whose low credit rating does not fulfil the ECB’s credit rating requirement, Greece needs to show that it is implementing the reforms and measures agreed in the country’s 86 billion euro bailout deal. However, the upcoming review of the bailout program must be completed for the ECB to take action.
Draghi further noted that there needs to be a Greek debt sustainability analysis before the ECB can go on with any Greek bond purchases.
The ECB president argued that during the negotiations for the third Greek bailout the ECB insisted that there not be a bail in of Greek bank deposits as that would be “counter-productive”.
Earlier in the day the ECB decided to reduce the ELA to Greece by 600 million euros, down to 89.1 billion euros.
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