In the week ending 1 January 2021 the decrease of EUR 22.7 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) fell by EUR 9.3 billion to EUR 304.1 billion. This change was due to the effects of the quarterly revaluation of assets and liabilities of EUR 10.1 billion, which were partially offset by an increase of EUR 0.9 billion on account of customer and portfolio transactions.
As a result of the Eurosystem’s open market operations and standing facilities, net lending to credit institutions (asset item 5 minus liability items 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 4) decreased by EUR 92.1 billion to EUR 1,109.3 billion, mainly owing to the change in the level of the deposit facility (liability item 2.2).
Base money (liability items 1, 2.1 and 2.2) fell by EUR 80.7 billion to EUR 4,923.7 billion.
The table below provides the detailed breakdown of securities held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.1) into the different portfolios. All portfolios are accounted for at amortised cost.
Monetary policy securities portfolios | Reported value as at 1 January 2021 | Weekly change – purchases | Weekly change – redemptions | Weekly change – quarter-end adjustments |
Covered bond purchase programme 1 | EUR 0.5 billion | – | – | -EUR 0.0 billion |
Securities Markets Programme | EUR 28.7 billion | – | – | +EUR 0.1 billion |
Covered bond purchase programme 2 | EUR 2.8 billion | – | – | -EUR 0.0 billion |
Covered bond purchase programme 3 | EUR 287.5 billion | – | -EUR 0.0 billion | -EUR 0.4 billion |
Asset-backed securities purchase programme | EUR 29.5 billion | – | -EUR 0.2 billion | -EUR 0.0 billion |
Public sector purchase programme | EUR 2,341.6 billion | – | – | -EUR 6.8 billion |
Corporate sector purchase programme | EUR 250.4 billion | – | -EUR 0.3 billion | -EUR 0.3 billion |
Pandemic emergency purchase programme | EUR 753.7 billion | +EUR 0.0 billion | -EUR 0.3 billion | -EUR 1.9 billion |
Quarter-end revaluation of the Eurosystem’s assets and liabilities
In line with the Eurosystem’s harmonised accounting rules, gold, foreign exchange and financial instruments (including part of the securities holdings not purchased for monetary policy purposes) 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 31 December 2020 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 1,543.884 per fine oz.
USD: 1.2271 per EUR
JPY: 126.49 per EUR
CNY: 8.0225 per EUR
Special drawing rights: EUR 1.1786 per SDR
The content and format of the weekly financial statement are set out in Annexes IV to VI of Guideline (EU) 2016/2249 of the European Central Bank of 3 November 2016 on the legal framework for accounting and financial reporting in the European System of Central Banks (ECB/2016/34).
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