Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 21 January 2011

Items not related to monetary policy operations

In the week ending 21 January 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 1.5 billion to EUR 182.4 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) increased by EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 325.8 billion. Banknotes in circulation (liability item 1) decreased by EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 823.1 billion. Liabilities to general government (liability item 5.1) increased by EUR 23.5 billion to EUR 103.9 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 76.7 billion to EUR 373.4 billion. On Wednesday, 19 January 2011, a main refinancing operation of EUR 180.1 billion matured and a new one of EUR 176.9 billion was settled. On the same day, fixed-term deposits in an amount of EUR 74 billion matured and new deposits were collected in an amount of EUR 76.5 billion, with a maturity of one week. Also on Wednesday, 19 January 2011, a longer-term refinancing operation of EUR 68.1 billion matured and a new one of EUR 70.4 billion was settled.

Recourse to the marginal lending facility (asset item 5.5) was EUR 0.1 billion (compared with virtually nil in the previous week), while recourse to the deposit facility (liability item 2.2) was EUR 27.5 billion (compared with EUR 107.2 billion in the preceding week).

The holdings by the Eurosystem of securities held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.1) increased by EUR 0.1 billion to EUR 137.2 billion. This increase was due to the net result of settled purchases under the Securities Markets Programme and the maturity of securities under the covered bond purchase programme and the Securities Markets Programme. Therefore, in the week ending 21 January 2011 the value of accumulated purchases under the Securities Markets Programme and that of the portfolio held under the covered bond purchase programme totalled EUR 76.5 billion and EUR 60.8 billion respectively. Both 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 63.3 billion to EUR 209.1 billion.