Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 30 December 2011

Items not related to monetary policy operations

In the week ending 30 December 2011 the increase of EUR 3.6 billion in gold and gold receivables (asset item 1) reflected quarterly revaluation adjustments, as well as the sale of gold coin by one Eurosystem central bank.

The net position of the Eurosystem in foreign currency (asset items 2 and 3 minus liability items 7, 8 and 9) increased by EUR 9.3 billion to EUR 273.3 billion. This change was due mainly to the effects of the quarterly revaluation of assets and liabilities, as well as to customer and portfolio transactions carried out by Eurosystem central banks.

Owing to transactions conducted by the ECB in connection with liquidity-providing arrangements in place with central banks outside the euro area, in the week ending 30 December 2011 there were outstanding claims on non-euro area residents denominated in euro (asset item 4) with a value of EUR 1.5 billion.

The holdings by the Eurosystem of marketable securities other than those held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.2) increased by EUR 7.2 billion to EUR 344.8 billion. Banknotes in circulation (liability item 1) fell by EUR 2.3 billion to EUR 888.7 billion. Liabilities to general government (liability item 5.1) decreased by EUR 0.6 billion to EUR 65.5 billion.

On 16 December 2010 the ECB announced that its subscribed capital would be increased by EUR 5 billion with effect from 29 December 2010. To smooth the transfer of the capital payments to the ECB, the euro area national central banks would pay their additional capital contribution of EUR 3.5 billion in three annual instalments. The first instalment of EUR 1.2 billion was paid at the end of 2010, and the second instalment of EUR 1.2 billion was then paid on 28 December 2011. This payment gave rise to intra-Eurosystem balances, but since such balances are always eliminated through the consolidation process, no change owing to this capital increase is shown under capital and reserves (liability item 12) in the Eurosystem’s consolidated financial statement. However, the capital increase will be reflected in the ECB’s annual accounts, which will be published in March 2012.

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 18.3 billion to EUR 237.6 billion. On Wednesday, 28 December 2011, a main refinancing operation of EUR 169 billion matured and a new one of EUR 144.8 billion was settled. On the same day, fixed-term deposits in an amount of EUR 211 billion matured and new deposits were collected in an amount of EUR 211 billion, with a maturity of one week.

Recourse to the marginal lending facility (asset item 5.5) was EUR 14.8 billion (compared with EUR 6.1 billion in the previous week), while recourse to the deposit facility (liability item 2.2) was EUR 413.9 billion (compared with EUR 411.8 billion in the preceding week).

The holdings by the Eurosystem of securities held for monetary policy purposes (asset item 7.1) increased by EUR 0.8 billion to EUR 273.9 billion, owing to settled purchases under the Securities Markets Programme, the redemption of securities under the first covered bond purchase programme and quarter-end adjustments. Therefore, in the week ending 30 December 2011 the value of accumulated purchases under the Securities Markets Programme amounted to EUR 211.9 billion, while those of the portfolios held under the first and second covered bond purchase programmes totalled EUR 58.8 billion and EUR 3.1 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 41.5 billion to EUR 223.5 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 31 December 2011 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 1,216.864 per fine oz.

USD: 1.2939 per EUR

JPY: 100.20 per EUR

Special drawing rights: EUR 1.1867 per SDR