Eurosystem Balance Sheet Rises In Week Ending Sept. 16

The Eurosystem's balance sheet increased in the week ending Sept. 16, the ECB said Tuesday.

The balance sheet rose to EUR2.135 trillion by the end of last week, from EUR2.086 trillion the previous
Friday. It rose by EUR48.356 billion, compared with a rise of EUR13.24 billion the previous week. It was about EUR189.5 billion larger than a year earlier.

Net lending to credit institutions increased by EUR78.5 billion to EUR270 billion last week after a EUR55 billion fall a week earlier. Last Wednesday, a main refinancing operation of EUR115.4 billion matured and a new one of EUR163.8 billion was settled. On the same day, a longer-term operation of EUR75.8 billion matured and new deposits of EUR54.2 billion were collected, the ECB said. Also Wednesday, fixed-term, one-week deposits of EUR129 billion matured and new deposits of EUR143 billion were collected.

Eurosystem holdings of securities held for monetary policy purposes rose by EUR9.6 billion last week to EUR212 billion, due to settled purchases under the ECB's bond-buying program, which it reactivated in August as one of its non-standard measures. The value of bond purchases under the Securities Markets program totaled EUR152.7 billion by the end of last week.

The ECB has been criticized for increasing the volume of its balance sheet due to the purchases of government bonds and other non-standard measures. Top ECB officials have acknowledged the added risks, but insist these are manageable.

The Eurosystem consists of the ECB and the 17 euro-zone national central banks.