Published as part of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 2/2026.
This box describes the Eurosystem liquidity conditions and monetary policy operations in the seventh and eighth reserve maintenance periods of 2025. Together, these two maintenance periods ran from 5 November 2025 to 10 February 2026 (the “review period”).
Average excess liquidity in the euro area banking system continued to decline. Liquidity provision decreased over the review period, owing primarily to lower Eurosystem holdings under the asset purchase programme (APP) and the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) following the discontinuation of APP reinvestments at the beginning of July 2023 and PEPP reinvestments at the end of December 2024. This decrease was accompanied by a slight increase in net autonomous factors, which also contributed to the reduction in excess liquidity.
Liquidity needs
The average daily liquidity needs of the euro area banking system, defined as the sum of net autonomous factors and reserve requirements, increased by €18 billion to €1,306 billion over the review period (Table A). This increase was driven by a decrease in liquidity-providing autonomous factors and an increase in liquidity-absorbing autonomous factors (Chart A). Minimum reserve requirements rose by €1 billion to €169 billion, also contributing marginally to the rise in liquidity needs.
Chart A
Aggregate liquidity needs, by reserve maintenance period
(EUR billions)
Source: ECB.
Notes: Each bar shows the averages for each maintenance period. There are eight maintenance periods a year, with the eighth period extending into the following calendar year. The latest observations are for the eighth maintenance period of 2025.
Liquidity-providing autonomous factors declined by €8 billion over the review period, owing primarily to a decrease of €16 billion in net assets denominated in euro. This decrease was attributable to an increase in euro-denominated non-monetary policy deposits, which are liquidity-absorbing, being only partly offset by an increase in euro-denominated non-monetary policy investments, which are liquidity-providing. Meanwhile, net foreign asset holdings rose by €8 billion.
Liquidity-absorbing autonomous factors rose by €9 billion over the review period, owing mainly to an increase in banknotes in circulation. Demand for banknotes typically increases during the holiday season and is driven by higher household expenditure. The average value of banknotes in circulation grew by €15 billion, reaching a total of €1,607 billion over the review period. Government deposits held with the Eurosystem declined by €9 billion to €102 billion, as government issuance tends to slow towards the end of the year, and this led to lower cash buffers held by national treasuries.
Liquidity provided through monetary policy instruments
The average amount of liquidity provided through monetary policy instruments fell by €125 billion to €3,776 billion over the review period (Chart B). This decline in the liquidity supply was mainly due to a reduction in Eurosystem outright portfolios.
Chart B
Liquidity provided through open market operations and excess liquidity
(EUR trillions)
Source: ECB.
Note: The latest observations are for the eighth maintenance period of 2025.
The average amount of liquidity provided through outright monetary policy portfolio holdings went down by €128 billion to €3,752 billion over the review period. This decline was due to the continued maturing of APP and PEPP holdings in the absence of any reinvestments.
The average amount of liquidity provided through credit operations rose by €3 billion to €24 billion over the review period. The average outstanding amount of main refinancing operations (MROs) increased by around €4 billion to €13 billion, driven by higher participation at the turn of the year (€25 billion). The average outstanding amount of three-month longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) decreased by €1 billion to €11 billion. Participation in these regular operations remains limited, reflecting the comfortable liquidity position of banks and the good availability of alternative market-based funding sources. However, the growing number of banks that are testing the viability of their participation indicates that they are building up their operational readiness to access these operations as the balance sheet of the Eurosystem continues to decline.
Excess liquidity
Excess liquidity fell by €143 billion to €2,470 billion over the review period (Chart B). Excess liquidity is the sum of the reserves that banks hold in their current accounts in excess of the minimum reserve requirements and their recourse to the deposit facility net of their recourse to the marginal lending facility. It reflects the difference between the total liquidity provided to the banking system via monetary policy instruments and the liquidity needed by banks to cover their minimum reserves. After peaking at €4,748 billion in November 2022, excess liquidity has since declined steadily.
Interest rate developments
During the review period, the Governing Council kept the three key ECB interest rates unchanged – including the deposit facility rate, through which it steers the monetary policy stance. The rates on the deposit facility, MROs and marginal lending facility remained at 2.00%, 2.15% and 2.40% respectively (Table B).
The average euro short-term rate (€STR) increased marginally over the review period, while maintaining a negative spread relative to the deposit facility rate. On average, the €STR was 7 basis points below the deposit facility rate over the review period, with this spread narrowing slightly from 7.5 basis points during the fifth and sixth maintenance periods of 2025.
The average euro area repo rate, as measured by the RepoFunds Rate Euro index, remained closer to the deposit facility rate than the €STR. On average, the repo rate was equal to the deposit facility rate over the review period, which was also the case in the fifth and sixth maintenance periods of 2025.
Table A
Eurosystem liquidity conditions
(averages; EUR billions)
Source: ECB.
Notes: All figures in the table are rounded to the nearest €1 billion. Figures in parentheses denote the change from the previous review or maintenance period. MROs stands for main refinancing operations and LTROs for longer-term refinancing operations. The historical time series of Eurosystem liquidity conditions can be found in the ECB Data Portal under the table tab of the liquidity report.
1) Memo item that does not appear on the Eurosystem balance sheet and should therefore not be included in the calculation of total liabilities.
2) Computed as the sum of current accounts above minimum reserve requirements and the recourse to the deposit facility minus the recourse to the marginal lending facility.
3) Computed as the sum of net autonomous factors and minimum reserve requirements.
4) Computed as the difference between autonomous liquidity factors on the liabilities side and autonomous liquidity factors on the assets side.
Table B
Interest rate developments
(averages; percentages and percentage points)
Sources: ECB, CME Group and Bloomberg Finance L.P.
Notes: Figures in parentheses denote the change in percentage points from the previous review or maintenance period. MROs stands for main refinancing operations and €STR for euro short-term rate.