ECB’s Asmussen: bond buying programme not forever

The European Central Bank cannot use its bond-buying programme to prop up troubled euro zone states forever, and governments bear the main responsibility for fighting the debt crisis, ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Thursday.
"The SMP (Securities Markets Programme) is neither unlimited nor can it last forever," Asmussen said on German radio station Deutschlandfunk.
Asmussen said that the ECB has a mandate to contribute to the stability of financial markets.
"It is an important mandate but it is also a mandate with limits," he said. "And that's why that one should not overburden monetary policy. The main responsibility for fighting the current crisis lies with the governments.
"This crisis is not a euro crisis but rather a crisis of state debt," he added.
Asmussen said the goal of the SMP is to improve the market conditions. He said he saw no inflationary danger from the programme.
"No, this bond-buying programming serves to ensure that the money market functions better," he said. "Thus, it's clear that there is no inflationary dangers from this SMP programme."