LISBON (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is very determined and committed to act against the risk of fragmentation and is designing instruments as a deterrent to pressure on debt spreads, governing council member Mario Centeno said on Monday.
Speaking at a financial event hosted by CNN Portugal, Centeno said such tools would only be used in case of need, “or, if well designed, could hopefully never be used at all”.
The ECB said on Wednesday that it had mandated its staff to accelerate the design of an “anti-fragmentation” tool after a sharp widening of southern European bond yield spreads versus the safe-haven German debt.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip)
