ECB waiver for Greek debt depends on the country’s bailout compliance, Draghi says

Greece needs to show a strong commitment to its bailout program before the European Central Bank can start buying Greek debt as part of its asset purchase program, ECB’s president Mario Draghi said in a letter on Wednesday replying to a question of SYRIZA MEPs Dimitris Papadimoulis and Stelios Kouloglou.

Draghi added that even if the ECB waived the minimum credit rating requirement for Greek debt, the timing of possible asset purchases also depended on a set of additional factors linked to the programme reviews and would be subject to various purchase limits.

As Reuters reports, the Greek central bank earlier said that reinstating the waiver was on the agenda, raising hopes that Greece could soon be included in the ECB’s quantitative easing program.

However, sources close to the bank earlier said that the waiver is unlikely until it becomes clear that the first review, due to start later this month, is heading for success.