The additions are mainly from the infrastructure sector, and include state-owned railway and road company Infraestruturas de Portugal, highway operator Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen-Finanzierungs-AG of Austria [state-owned] as well as Italian utility company Terna S.p.A — Rete Elettrica Nazionale, of which the Italian government owns less than 30 percent.
The ECB announced its public sector purchase program in January, which intends to inject around €1.1 trillion [$1.09 trillion] into the Eurozone economy between the beginning of the program in March, and the end of September 2016 by buying securities with a maturity range of two to 30 years.
ECB and Eurosystem national central banks have, as previously announced, started purchases under the Public Sector Purchase Programme.
— ECB (@ecb) 9 Март 2015
Announcing the program on January 22 in Frankfurt, ECB head Mario Draghi said the purchases "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," and aim to achieve "inflation rates below but close to 2% over the medium term."
On June 30 Eurostat released its flash estimate of annual inflation in the Eurozone for June. According to the EU's statistical office, Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.2% in June 2015, down from 0.3 percent [annualized] in May 2015.
