ECB's Asmussen stresses importance of bond-buying conditions

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Friday that he would only support purchasing the bonds of struggling euro zone countries if pressure on them to reform their economies remained high.

"Only under strict conditionality and only if there is continued pressure to reform," Asmussen said of the bond purchase plan announced by ECB President Mario Draghi earlier this month.

Speaking at an event in Berlin hosted by the Alfred Herrhausen Society, a Deutsche Bank think tank, Asmussen said the goal of the ECB's "Outright Monetary Transactions" program was not to deliver uniform borrowing costs across the euro zone.

He also warned against exaggerated fears of inflation, saying the ECB remained totally committed to its goal of price stability.

(Reporting by Reinhard Becker; Writing by Noah Barkin)