Europe Bank Chief Hints at Bond Purchases

Draghi Suggests ECB Is Open to Buying Government Debt Maturing in Two to Three Years to Support Struggling Economies

BRUSSELS—The president of the European Central Bank dropped more hints about how the bank could support struggling countries, suggesting the bank was free to buy government bonds maturing in three years or less.

The comments by Mario Draghi in a closed hearing at the European Parliament on Monday came ahead of the ECB's monthly policy meeting Thursday. That meeting has been keenly awaited in the financial markets for further details of how the bank could help bring down the funding costs of countries such as Spain and Italy to prevent them from having to seek full euro-zone bailouts like Greece, ...

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

www.djreprints.com