ECB boosts asset purchases under Covid-19 PEPP programme by 600bn euros

The European Central Bank more than delivered on economists' expectations for further easing.

At Thursday's meeting of the Governing Council, policymakers decided to increase the size of the ECB's pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) by €600bn (Barclays: €500bn) and to extend its duration until June 2021 - at the earliest.

Purchases under PEPP would continue for as long as the coronavirus crisis phase, the ECB said in its policy statement.

The GC reiterated that PEPP purchases would be conducted over time and across countries "flexibly" in order to ensure the "smooth" transition of monetary policy.

Net asset purchases under the regular asset purchase programme (APP) meanwhile would be kept at a monthly pace of €20bn, on top of purchases under the additional €120bn temporary envelope until that had already been appoved until the end of 2020.

APP purchases however would extend until "shortly" before the ECB began raising interest rates.

All of the ECB's main interest rates were steady, with that for the main refinancing operations kept at 0.0%, that for the marginal lending facility at 0.25% and that for the deposit facility at -0.5%.