Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 16 December 2011

Items not related to monetary policy operations

In the week ending 16 December 2011 gold and gold receivables (asset item 1) remained unchanged.

The net position of the Eurosystem in foreign currency (asset items 2 and 3 minus liability items 7, 8 and 9) increased by EUR 4.8 billion to EUR 241.5 billion on account of customer and portfolio transactions and US dollar liquidity-providing operations (see below).

The liquidity-providing transactions were conducted by the Eurosystem in connection with the temporary reciprocal currency arrangement (swap line) that the European Central Bank has with the Federal Reserve System.

The holdings by the Eurosystem of marketable securities other than those held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.2) decreased by EUR 0.3 billion to EUR 337.7 billion. Banknotes in circulation (liability item 1) increased by EUR 3 billion to EUR 882.6 billion. Liabilities to general government (liability item 5.1) decreased by EUR 15.7 billion to EUR 45.8 billion.

Items related to monetary policy operations

The Eurosystem’s net lending to credit institutions (asset item 5 minus liability items 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 4) increased by EUR 142.8 billion to EUR 243.2 billion. On Wednesday, 14 December 2011, a main refinancing operation of EUR 252.1 billion matured and a new one of EUR 291.6 billion was settled. On the same day, fixed-term deposits in an amount of EUR 207 billion matured and new deposits were collected in an amount of EUR 207.5 billion. Also on Wednesday, 14 December 2011, a longer-term refinancing operation of EUR 55.5 billion matured and a new one of EUR 41.2 billion was settled.

Recourse to the marginal lending facility (asset item 5.5) was EUR 4.5 billion (compared with EUR 7.4 billion in the previous week), while recourse to the deposit facility (liability item 2.2) was EUR 214.1 billion (compared with EUR 334.9 billion in the preceding week).

The holdings by the Eurosystem of securities held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.1) increased by EUR 3.8 billion to EUR 272.5 billion. This increase was the net result of: (i) settled purchases of EUR 3.4 billion under the Securities Markets Programme and EUR 0.5 billion under the second covered bond purchase programme; and (ii) the redemption of securities purchased under the first covered bond purchase programme. Therefore, in the week ending 16 December 2011 the value of accumulated purchases under the Securities Markets Programme amounted to EUR 210.9 billion, while those of the portfolios held under the first and second covered bond purchase programmes totalled EUR 59 billion and EUR 2.6 billion respectively. All three portfolios are accounted for on a held-to-maturity basis.

Current accounts of euro area credit institutions

As a result of all transactions, the current account position of credit institutions with the Eurosystem (liability item 2.1) increased by EUR 158.9 billion to EUR 298.1 billion.