At the global level, however, where the degree of convergence, integration and synchronisation is far less pronounced, countries at very different stages of development and with very different growth models stand to benefit instead from the corrective mechanism that fluctuating exchange rates constitute. Fixing exchange rates at the global level, to the contrary, has rarely benefited the global economy.
The ECB also started a purchase program of covered bonds which are a key source of funding credit for private banks in many Euro area countries.2 Most importantly, the ECB did not initiate purchases of government bonds. However, in 2010–2012 the ECB operated the Securities Market Programme (SMP), which amounted to sterilized interventions on public and private bond markets (in practice only public).