Top ECB official sceptical about bond purchases: report

One of the members of the European Central Bank's executive board, Sabine Lautenschlaeger, expressed doubt Thursday that the ECB's controversial bond purchase programme will have the desired effect. "Given the current low level of interest rates in the eurozone, I have doubts whether the economic effects of the purchase programme will reach the desired magnitude," Lautenschlaeger told the weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche in an interview. The ECB launched a programme of so-cal