BRUSSELS – It has now been nearly half a year since the European Central Bank declared its intention to buy some €1.1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) worth of eurozone bonds. When it first announced the so-called “extended asset-purchase program” in January, the ECB emphasized that it was only expanding an existing program, under which it had been buying modest quantities of private-sector bonds, to cover government paper.
布鲁塞尔—自欧洲央行宣布将购买1.1万亿欧元欧元区债券以来已经过去了近半年。1月份，当欧洲央行第一次宣布所谓的“扩大资产购买计划”时，它强调这只是扩大已有的计划——在此之前，它一直在小量购买私人部门债券——将政府债券也包括进来。但这一持续性的姿态只是一个姿态。