Pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP)

The ECB’s pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) is a non-standard monetary policy measure initiated in March 2020 to counter the serious risks to the monetary policy transmission mechanism and the outlook for the euro area posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The PEPP is a temporary asset purchase programme of private and public sector securities. The Governing Council decided to increase the initial €750 billion envelope for the PEPP by €600 billion on 4 June 2020 and by €500 billion on 10 December, for a new total of €1,850 billion. All asset categories eligible under the existing asset purchase programme (APP) are also eligible under the PEPP, as well as a waiver of the eligibility requirements has been granted for securities issued by the Greek Government.

In addition, the eligibility of non-financial commercial paper under the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP) was expanded to include securities with a remaining maturity of at least 28 days. These securities can be purchased under both the CSPP and the PEPP. Previously, only commercial paper with a remaining maturity of at least six months had been eligible for purchase under the CSPP. The residual maturity of public sector securities eligible for purchase under the PEPP ranges from 70 days up to a maximum of 30 years and 364 days.

For the purchases of public sector securities under the PEPP, the benchmark allocation across jurisdictions will be the Eurosystem capital key of the national central banks. At the same time, purchases will be conducted in a flexible manner on the basis of market conditions and with a view to preventing a tightening of financing conditions that is inconsistent with countering the downward impact of the pandemic on the projected path of inflation. The flexibility of purchases over time, across asset classes and among jurisdictions will continue to support the smooth transmission of monetary policy.

On 16 December 2021 the Governing Council decided to discontinue net asset purchases under the PEPP at the end of March 2022. The maturing principal payments from securities purchased under the PEPP will be reinvested until at least the end of 2024. In any case, the future roll-off of the PEPP portfolio will be managed to avoid interference with the appropriate monetary stance.

Weekly changes are reported below and in the Eurosystem weekly financial statement. Full historical data are available in the Statistics section under Data on daily liquidity conditions.

Securities purchased under the monetary policy portfolios are made available for securities lending to support market liquidity and collateral availability in the market.

• Press release: Monetary policy decisions on 10 December 2020
• Press release: Monetary policy decisions on 4 June 2020
• Decision ECB/2020/17 of 24 March 2020
• Press release: ECB announces €750 billion pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP)
• The ECB Blog - Christine Lagarde: Our Response to the Coronavirus
• FAQ on the pandemic emergency purchase programme
• Climate-related financial disclosures of the Eurosystem’s corporate sector holdings for monetary policy purposes

• History of monthly net purchase under the PEPP last update: 2023 05 03

The table presents the Eurosystem holdings at the end of the bimonthly period and a breakdown of the change in Eurosystem holdings.

Amortisation adjustments are made at the end of each quarter. The amortisation results from an accounting principle that implies that securities purchased at prices below face value have to be revalued upwards over time towards maturity, and revalued downwards over time if purchased at prices above face value. STRIPS are accounted for at the end of each month.

• History of PEPP purchases broken down by asset category last update: 2023 04 05

• History of public sector securities cumulative purchase breakdowns under the PEPP last update: 2023 04 05

• History of private sector primary/secondary market breakdown last update: 2023 04 05