ECB's Stournaras: ECB should accelerate PEPP purchases

European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Yannis Stournaras said on Friday that the ECB should accelerate the purchases within the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"There’s no fundamental justification for a tightening of nominal bond yields at the long end."

"Governing council should instruct board at March 11 meeting to fight unwarranted tightening of financing conditions."

"There is currently an unwarranted tightening of bond yields."

Market reaction

The shared currency remains under strong bearish pressure following these remarks. As of writing, the EUR/USD pair was down 0.62% on a daily basis at 1.2101.