Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 29 March 2013

Items not related to monetary policy operations

In the week ending 29 March 2013 the decrease of EUR 3.4 billion in gold and gold receivables (asset item 1) reflected quarterly revaluation adjustments.

The net position of the Eurosystem in foreign currency (asset items 2 and 3 minus liability items 7, 8 and 9) increased by EUR 3.8 billion to EUR 221.4 billion. This change was due to the effects of the quarterly revaluation of assets and liabilities, the customer and portfolio transactions carried out by Eurosystem central banks during the period under review and US dollar liquidity-providing operations (see below).

US dollar liquidity operations

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) increased by EUR 11.5 billion to EUR 348.7 billion, mainly as a result of the acquisition of securities in exchange for the collateral appropriated previously by one national central bank (see also the press release accompanying the Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 8 February 2013). The realisation of the collateral resulted in a simultaneous decrease in other assets (asset item 9).

Banknotes in circulation (liability item 1) increased by EUR 11.8 billion to EUR 896.4 billion. Liabilities to general government (liability item 5.1) increased by EUR 4.4 billion to EUR 96.3 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) decreased by EUR 20.1 billion to EUR 553 billion. On Wednesday, 27 March 2013, a main refinancing operation of EUR 119.4 billion matured and a new one of EUR 123.2 billion was settled. On the same day, fixed-term deposits in an amount of EUR 205.5 billion matured and new deposits were collected in the same amount, with a maturity of one week.

During the week, a longer-term refinancing operation of EUR 15 billion matured and a new one of EUR 9.1 billion was settled, while EUR 1.9 billion of longer-term refinancing operations was repaid before maturity.

Recourse to the marginal lending facility (asset item 5.5) was EUR 1.5 billion (compared with EUR 0.2 billion in the previous week), while recourse to the deposit facility (liability item 2.2) was EUR 144.6 billion (compared with EUR 126.8 billion in the preceding week).

The holdings by the Eurosystem of securities held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.1) increased marginally by EUR 0.2 billion to EUR 269.3 billion due to quarter-end adjustments. Therefore, in the week ending 29 March 2013 the value of accumulated purchases under the Securities Markets Programme amounted to EUR 205.9 billion, while those of the portfolios held under the first and second covered bond purchase programmes totalled EUR 47.3 billion and EUR 16.2 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) decreased by EUR 32.4 billion to EUR 319.3 billion.

Quarter-end revaluation of the Eurosystem’s assets and liabilities

In line with the Eurosystem’s harmonised accounting rules, gold, foreign exchange, securities holdings and financial instruments of the Eurosystem are revalued at market rates and prices as at the end of each quarter. The net impact of the revaluation on each balance sheet item as at 29 March 2013 is shown in the additional column “ Difference compared with last week due to quarter-end adjustments”. The gold price and the principal exchange rates used for the revaluation of balances were as follows:

Gold: EUR 1,251.464 per fine oz.

USD: 1.2805 per EUR

JPY: 120.87 per EUR

Special drawing rights: EUR 1.1698 per SDR