Frankfurt - The European Central Bank did not take unanimous decisions on the new policy measures it announced on Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi said.
The ECB unexpectedly cut interest rates to a fresh record low, bringing borrowing costs to what Draghi called the “lower bound” of close to zero to lift inflation and support the economy.
That decision was not unanimous, he said.
The ECB will also start buying securitised loans and covered bonds next month, Draghi told his monthly news conference
There was a “comfortable majority” in favour of introducing the debt purchase programmes, he said.
The bank's governing council also discussed quantitative easing in the form of an outright asset purchase programme.
“QE was discussed. Some of our Governing Council members were in favour of doing more than I've just presented, and some were in favour of doing less. So our proposal strikes the mid-road,” Draghi said. - Reuters