This change in conditions led some counterparties to repay early  1/6  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  the liquidity obtained in past years, leading to a reduction in the Eurosystem central banks' balance sheets after years of strong growth.
The balance sheet At the end of 2022, the Bank of Italy's balance sheet assets stood at € billion, down by 4 per cent compared with 2021. Ten years ago, ahead of the APP and PEPP purchase programmes, the balance sheet total amounted to around € billion.