The importance of these two factors for the overall expansion of the Eurosystem balance sheet can be measured very simply in the form of the recourse to the deposit facility. The daily recourse to the deposit facility peaked on 3 July 2009 with € billion, reflecting the high demand in the first 12 month long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) in June 2009.
Recourse to the deposit facility stood at € billion on average during the last maintenance period ending on 13 October 2009. The third factor lengthening the balance sheet was the provision of liquidity in foreign currency, either via collateralised lending or via swaps.