ECB says to start bond purchases on March 9

NICOSIA: The European Central Bank will start buying government debt in its new quantitative easing programme on March 9, ECB chief Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

"Following up on our decisions of January 22, we will, on March 9, start purchasing euro-denominated public sector securities in the secondary market," Draghi told a news conference, adding that "we have already seen a significant number of positive effects from these monetary policy decisions."