The European Central Bank's controversial purchases of government bonds fell by one-third last week from the previous week as its main opponent kept up the drumbeat of criticism toward the programme.
ECB figures published this afternoon show that the bank bought €9.8 billion worth of bonds between September 8-14, down from €14 billion the previous week and taking the programme's total to €152.5 billion.
Euro zone debt crisis fears continued to escalate last week as Italy and Spain continued to be sucked deeper into the troubles. Market yields on the two countries' bonds rose further above 5% despite six weeks of ECB buying in an effort to hold them down.
The ECB was also rocked earlier this month by the sudden resignation of Jurgen Stark, one of its most experienced executive board members, a move which sources said was down to his opposition to the bank's bond purchases.
Over the weekend, ECB Governing Council member and Bundesbank head Jens Weidmann, the most vocal opponent of bond-buying, told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine the ECB had burdened itself with considerable risk and it was wrong to abandon established principles of monetary policy.
Under the bond buy programme the ECB and the 17 euro zone national central banks can buy government and corporate bonds from banks and other investors, but not directly from governments. Purchases take 2-3 days to settle, meaning that when the ECB is buying, the weekly figures do not necessarily give the full picture. It does not give a breakdown of its purchases.
Analysts and traders, however, estimate is has bought around €45 billion of Greek debt and has concentrated largely on Italian and Spanish debt since restarting its purchases early last month.
