5/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  In saying that, it is obvious that, even after the net purchases under the asset purchase programme have been discontinued, euro-area monetary policy will remain extremely accommodative.
First, what is crucial for the degree of expansion in monetary policy is not so much the amount of monthly purchases but, above all, the total outstanding volume of sovereign bonds on our books. And the amount held by the Eurosystem will remain at a very high level even when net purchases have been discontinued.