IMF welcomes ECB’s new aim at crisis

In response to queries regarding the European Central Bank’s latest policy meeting, the IMF has released a communiqué backing ECB’s President Mario Draghi, who announced today they will gear up to buy Italian and Spanish bonds on the open market but would only act after euro zone governments have activated bailout funds to do the same.

The official document says: “We [IMF] welcome the ECB’s willingness to undertake outright market operations of adequate size and other non-standard monetary policy measures. We share their concern about the need to repair monetary policy transmission in the Euro zone.”

Likewise, the IMF remarked that it “agree with the need for full implementation of the safety nets—EFSF and ESM. As we have also emphasized, monetary policy alone cannot solve the problems facing the euro area. But further monetary easing and unconventional support would ease tensions as other policies are implemented and take effect.”