The European Central Bank will this week set out plans for an ambitious programme of sovereign bond buying, as the bank steps up its efforts to stave off deflation and boost the eurozone’s flagging economy.
The ECB has for several months signalled its intention to follow the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England by initiating quantitative easing. But agreeing a format that Mario Draghi, the bank’s president, could sell to Europe’s policy makers has gone right to the wire.
Although recent news of a fall in annual prices in the eurozone for the first time in five years all but confirmed expectations of eurozone QE, dissent from within the central bank, and fierce opposition towards sovereign bond-buying from Germany, has led to intense horse-trading ahead of Thursday’s governing council vote.