As documented in previous contributions by my colleague Benoit Coeuré, the APP’s introduction was followed by a striking swing from a sustained period of net portfolio flows into the euro area to sizeable net portfolio flows out of the euro area (Chart 10).
[29] Net portfolio outflows reached their peak in 2016, when the monthly pace of APP purchases was at its fastest, and then gradually receded, broadly in tandem with the successive reductions in the pace of monthly purchases until it reached zero at the end of 2018.