On March 18, the ECB unveiled a temporary program to purchase up to €750 billion in public and private-sector securities until the “crisis phase” of the COVID-19 crisis is over, but at least until the end of 2020.
The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) is an expansion of the ECB’s Asset Purchase Programme (APP), a package of asset-purchase measures that the ECB initiated in 2014 to support monetary policy. The PEPP, like the earlier APP, includes programs to buy sovereign debt, covered bonds, asset-backed securities , corporate bonds, and commercial paper. As with the APP, the ECB will make available for lending any securities that it purchases under the PEPP.
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