Brussels, 07/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Four weeks after the launch of its “quantitative easing” (QE) scheme, the European Central Bank has bought 52.52 billion euros' worth of sovereign debt, according to data published by the European institution in early April.
As the cap on total purchases has been set at €60 billion a month, these figures show that the main beneficiaries have been bonds issued by public organisations of Eurozone countries (see EUROPE 11268). Other figures show the ventilation, in billions of euros, of the 47.4 billion euros of public debt which had been bought as of 31 March: - Austria: 1.22 (average maturity of 7.7 years); - Belgium: 1.53 (8.8 years); - Germany: 11.1 (8.1 years); - Spain: 5.44 (11.7); - France: 8.75 (8.2); - Ireland: 0.72 (9.4); - Italy: 7.6 (9.1); - Lithuania: 0.04 (6.46); - Luxembourg: 0.18 (7); - Latvia: 0.075 (6.43); - Malta: 0.005 (10.4); - Netherlands: 2.49 (6.7); - Portugal: 1.07 (10.9); - Slovenia: 0.21 (6.3); - Slovakia: 0.5 (9.5); debt of supranational public bodies: 5.68 (7.3). (Mathieu Bion)