As of 18 June 2012, the ECB in total had spent €212.1bn (equal to 2.2% of the Eurozone GDP) for bond purchases covering outright debt, as part of its Securities Markets Programme (SMP) running since May 2010. On 6 September 2012, the ECB announced a new plan for buying bonds from eurozone countries. The duration of the previous SMP was temporary, while the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme has no ex-ante time or size limit. On 4 September 2014, the bank went further by announcing it would buy bonds and other debt instruments primarily from banks in a bid to boost the availability of credit for businesses. COUNT 5
QSN1 By 2012, how much did the ECB spend in covering bad debt? ANS1 €212.1bn QSN2 How does the ECB plan to increase the available credit for businesses? ANS2 Outright Monetary Transactions QSN3 What is the duration of the Outright Monetary Transactions program? ANS3 no ex-ante time or size limit QSN4 When was the new idea for the purchasing of eurozone bonds announced? ANS4 6 September 2012 QSN5 How long was the duration of the Securities Markets Programme to last? ANS5 temporary