ECB to start purchases programmes this year: Draghi

[NAPLES] The European Central Bank (ECB) will launch its contested purchase programmes - aimed at injecting cash into the eurozone economy - later this year, its president Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

The ECB will "start purchasing covered bonds and asset-backed securities (ABSs) in the fourth quarter of 2014, starting with covered bonds in the second half of October," Draghi told a news conference.

"The programmes will last for at least two years. Together with the series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations to be conducted until June 2016, these purchases will have a sizeable impact on our balance sheet," he added. - AFP