In defense of Italy, within two months the European Central Bank bought an additional €10 billion in BTPs (and 15 billion less German bonds)

Between June and July, the European Central Bank allocated More than 17 billion euros to defend Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. In particular, Frankfurt ordered additional purchases of Italian BTPs of nearly 10 billion euros and another 6 billion for the purchase of Spanish securities. On the contrary they Purchases of German, French and Dutch bonds fell by 18.9 billion euros. Mainly related to economic downturn Germany package (- 14.9 billion). The figures were released today by the Central Bank and are the first signs of action “anti-fragmentation” Decided in June. Essentially, since the government bonds purchased by the European Central Bank as part of the pandemic emergency plan, amounting to 1,600 billion euros, reach maturity, they are not automatically replenished with bonds of the same type but the money paid in favor of securities is transferred from most Countries are financially fragile and therefore more prone to speculation. This has the effect of containing the spread between the government bonds of different Euro countries and keeping one Greater homogeneity of financial and credit terms.

Last June, the President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde He had called an emergency meeting to prepare measures to contain yield margins, which had been revitalized through more restrictive monetary policies. “It appears that the European Central Bank has already activated its first line of defense,” he said. Christoph Rieger Rate manager at Commerzbank, according to agency report Bloomberg. “This is by far the largest reduction in the German bond portfolio since the ECB began quantitative easing (the bond-buying program started in 2015, so), and more than we expected.” The work of the European Central Bank can help explain this Limited reaction to returns From the Italian links to the Italian political crisis that erupted last year July 20.