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Eurozone Central Banks Face Further Losses
The national central banks (NCBs) comprising the euro area and the European Central Bank (ECB) - collectively, the Eurosystem - face prolonged losses as a result of higher interest expense on commercial bank reserves, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. These reserves were boosted over the past decade by large-scale quantitative easing (QE). We project the aggregate losses of the Eurosystem at over EUR160 billion (averaging 0.2% of GDP per year) over 2024-2028 before provisions, reserves and taxes. Losses will decline over time as the ECB lowers its policy rate and the balance sheet shrinks. These losses will hit ... (full story)