ECB bond-buying scheme to start on Monday

Nicosia

THE European Central Bank said it will start its new government bond-buying programme on March 9, hoping that pumping new cash into the sagging eurozone economy will boost growth and lift inflation.

The ECB will purchase sovereign debt until at least September 2016. "We will on March 9, 2015 start purchasing euro-dominated public sector securities in the secondary market. We will also continue to purchase asset-backed securities and covered bonds which we started last year," ECB president Mario Draghi told a news conference after the bank's policy meeting in Cyprus.