Draghi: don’t count on another carry trade
The steady stream of money from the European Central Bank is drying up. Banks will no longer be able to engage in trade of sovereign debt with cheap cash to gain huge profits. Yesterday, in a testimony to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, said that “The convenience to use the ECB cheap money to buy government bonds is much less. The general situation is such that these carry trades are going to be much less profitable.”
Government debt moving to Italy from Spain is now providing record low yields, whereas two years ago, it was much more lucrative, Draghi pointed out. That said, the Frankfurt-based ECB could extend as much as 1 trillion euros ($1.36 trillion) in its so-called TLTRO program starting in September. This liquidity drive would see cash pinned to banks’ performance in extending loans to the economy.
A condition of the TLTRO program stipulates that banks must meet a benchmark on lending to businesses and households, excluding mortgages, or else they will have to return the money in 2016. “If banks don’t lend to the non-financial private sector, they’ll have to repay,” Draghi confirmed.
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