ECB agrees landmark sovereign bond-buy plan

Frankfurt - The European Central Bank (ECB) agreed on Thursday to embark on a quantitative easing (QE) programme that will see it print money to buy up €60bn worth of sovereign bonds from March until the end of September next year.

The money will include some from existing programmes. Countries under a bailout programme, such as Greece, will be included but with some additional criteria.

The ECB is launching the programme with a view to buoying the flagging eurozone economy, where inflation has turned negative and - at minus 0.2% - is far below the central bank's target of just under 2%.

"Under this expanded programme the combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities will amount to €60bn," ECB President Mario Draghi said at a news conference.

"They are intended to be carried out until end-September 2016 and will in any case be conducted until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation."