How debt chiefs deal with QE's bond scarcity in eurozone

Edinburgh

DEBT agencies in the euro region are taking steps to solve a problem that policymakers deny exists.

While officials from the European Central Bank (ECB) say monthly purchases of about one per cent of the debt outstanding haven't constricted the market, sales of "off-the-run" bonds by some of the region's biggest issuers argue to the contrary.

France's AFT, which boosted the proportion of sales of such non-benchmark securities to 33 per cent last year, the most since 2011, said the re-openings help "preser…