 After a short pause of about a year, the ECB resumed buying up eurozone government bonds at a rate of €20 billion as from November 2019 in an effort to encourage governments to borrow more and spend in domestic investment projects.On 18 March 2020, to help the economy absorb the shock of the COVID-19 crisis, the ECB announced a €750 billion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP).The aim of the stimulus package (PEPP) was to lower borrowing costs and increase lending in the euro area.