ECB balance sheet rises by 83 billion euros on quarterly revaluation
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The combined balance sheet of the European Central Bank and the euro zone's national central banks expanded by 83.325 billion euros (60.49 billion pounds) to 2.334 trillion euros in the week to April 3, the ECB said on Thursday.
The increase was driven by a quarterly upward revaluation of the ECB's assets by nearly 90 billion euros, including a 40.1 billion euro revision in the value of its gold holdings to 383.965 billion euros.
The ECB reduced net assets by 6.510 billion euros during the week, as a fall in the liquidity it provided to banks through its main refinancing operation exceeded the sum of assets that it bought under its new quantitative easing programme.
The QE asset purchases are part of a broader plan to pump a trillion euros into the economy in order to lift inflation towards its target of just under 2 percent.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Alison Williams)
