Through these measures, the ECB aimed to mitigate the risk of systemic illiquidity in the euro area banking sector and to guarantee a steady flow of banking credit to euro area households and firms. 2  BIS Review 141/2009  Impact of measures implemented by the ECB Let me start with the impact of our measures on the Eurosystem balance sheet.
As in the case of other central banks, the size and complexity of the Eurosystem balance sheet has significantly increased. In June 2007, just before the start of the crisis, total assets of the Eurosystem amounted to around 10% of area-wide GDP € billion). By January 2009, the size of the balance sheet had almost doubled, reaching 19% of GDP € billion).