Mario Draghi's newest stimulus tool will hand banks more than 700 billion euros ($950 billion) of cheap funding, economists say.

The European Central Bank president's targeted lending program for banks will boost credit for the real economy as planned, and at the same time help keep the financial system flush with cash, according to the Bloomberg Monthly Survey of 45 economists. Draghi highlighted the measure in testimony to lawmakers today in Strasbourg, saying that it has "strong incentives" built in to spur lending.

The ECB has identified loans to companies and households as a key weakness in the euro area's fragile recovery. The so-called TLTRO program, part of a wider package of measures announced in June, offers as much as four years of low-cost funding tied to bank lending that Draghi said this month could ultimately provide as much as 1 trillion euros.