Asset purchase programmes

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The ECB’s asset purchase programme (APP) started as part of a package of non-standard monetary policy measures that also included targeted longer-term refinancing operations, and which was initiated in mid-2014 to support the monetary policy transmission mechanism and provide the amount of policy accommodation needed to ensure price stability.

The APP consists of the:

• corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP)
• public sector purchase programme (PSPP)
• asset-backed securities purchase programme (ABSPP)
• third covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3)

As part of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy review, concluded in July 2021, the Governing Council reiterated that the ECB’s primary monetary policy instrument is its set of policy rates. However, the Governing Council also recognised that, in the presence of an effective lower bound on policy rates, it will also employ other instruments, namely forward guidance, asset purchases and longer-term refinancing operations, as appropriate. This means that asset purchase programmes are now part of the ECB’s set of instruments for steering its monetary policy to ensure inflation stabilises at its 2% target in the medium term.

Over the years, the Governing Council has taken several decisions to recalibrate the pace of purchases and reinvestments. The most recent recalibration was on 15 June 2023, when the Governing Council announced that it would discontinue reinvestments under the APP as of July 2023. Going forward, the APP portfolio is expected to decrease as assets reach maturity unless the Governing Council decides, as appropriate, to use this instrument to steer the ECB’s monetary policy.

APP net purchases, by programme

The Eurosystem started to purchase securities under the asset purchase programmes of its APP in October 2014. The Governing Council recalibrated the overall net purchases under these programmes from time to time as follows:

• €60 billion of net purchases from March 2015 to March 2016;
• €80 billion of net purchases from April 2016 to March 2017;
• €60 billion of net purchases from April to December 2017;
• €30 billion of net purchases from January to September 2018;
• €15 billion of net purchases from October to December 2018;
• no net purchases, only reinvestments of redemptions, from January to October 2019;
• €20 billion of net purchases from November 2019 to March 2022 (a temporary €120 billion envelope of net asset purchases was added from March to December 2020);
• €40 billion of net purchases in April 2022;
• €30 billion of net purchases in May 2022;
• €20 billion of net purchases in June 2022;
• no net purchases, but full reinvestments of redemptions between July 2022 and February 2023;
• no net purchases and only partial reinvestments of redemptions from March 2023 to June 2023;
• no reinvestments of redemptions as of July 2023.

On 9 June 2022 the Governing Council decided to discontinue net asset purchases under the APP as of 1 July 2022, but to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the APP. On 15 December 2022 the Governing Council decided that from the beginning of March 2023, the APP portfolio will decline at a measured and predictable pace, as the Eurosystem will not reinvest all of the principal payments from maturing securities. The decline will amount to €15 billion per month on average until the end of the second quarter of 2023 and its subsequent pace will be determined over time. On 2 February 2023 the Governing Council decided on the detailed modalities for reducing the Eurosystem holdings of securities under the APP through the partial reinvestment of the principal payments from maturing securities. On 4 May 2023 the Governing Council announced it expected to discontinue reinvestments under the APP as of July 2023. On 15 June 2023 the Governing Council confirmed that reinvestments under the APP would be discontinued as of July 2023.

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

Amortisation adjustments are made at the end of each quarter. The amortisation emerges 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 (see Question 2.4 in the Q&A).

• History of cumulative purchase breakdowns under the APP last update: 9 Iúil 2025

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.

APP cumulative net purchases, by programme

The stock of Eurosystem APP bonds stood at €2692 billion at the end of June 2025. The cumulative net purchases are illustrated below.

APP redemptions

During the reinvestment phase of the APP, when reinvesting APP redemptions, the Eurosystem in general adhered to the principle of market neutrality via a smooth and flexible implementation. More specifically, for corporate bond reinvestments, from October 2022 the Eurosystem tilted these purchases towards issuers with a better climate performance.

Additionally, on 2 February 2023 the Governing Council