Draghi: OMT programme not a replacement for market access

The Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme announced by the ECB last month will never be a replacement for primary market access, says the bank’s president Mario Draghi.

However, the bank is on standby to unleash the OMT programme “once all the prerequisites are in place.”

This month’s ECB meeting was in Slovenia. It was certainly never going to be as eventful as last month’s meeting when Mr Draghi unveiled the details of the OMT. According to the programme, the ECB will buy up unlimited amounts of short-term bonds of eurozone member states that are experiencing funding difficulties. Crucially, the recipient will have to agree to conditions imposed by EU and IMF.