extend loans to households and firms. fourth, we decided to extend to june 2022 the duration of the set of collateral easing measures adopted by the governing council on 7 and 22 april 2020. the extension of these measures will continue to ensure that banks can make full use of the eurosystem ’ s liquidity operations, most notably the recalibrated tltros. the governing council will reassess the collateral easing measures before june 2022, ensuring that eurosystem counterparties ’ participation in tltro iii operations is not adversely affected. fifth, the governing council also decided to offer four additional pandemic emergency longerterm refinancing operations ( peltros ) in 2021, which will continue to provide an effective liquidity backstop. sixth, net purchases under our asset purchase programme ( app ) will continue at a monthly pace of €20 billion. we continue to expect monthly net asset purchases under the app to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of our policy rates, and to end shortly before we start raising the key ecb interest rates. we also intend to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the app for an extended period of time past the date when we start raising the key ecb interest rates, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation. seventh, the eurosystem repo facility for central banks ( eurep ) and all temporary swap and repo lines with non - euro area central banks will be extended until march 2022. finally, we decided to continue conducting our regular lending operations as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment at the prevailing conditions for as long as necessary. separate press releases with further details of the measures taken by the governing council will be published this afternoon at 15 : 30 cet. the monetary policy measures taken today will contribute to preserving favourable financing conditions over the pandemic period, thereby supporting the flow of credit to all sectors of the economy, underpinning economic activity and safeguarding medium - term price stability. at the same time, uncertainty remains high, including with regard to the dynamics of the pandemic and the timing of vaccine roll - outs. we will also continue to monitor developments in the exchange rate with regard to their possible implications for the medium - term inflation outlook. we therefore continue to stand ready to adjust all of our

financing conditions that is inconsistent with countering the downward impact of the pandemic on the projected path of inflation. in addition, the flexibility of purchases over time, across asset classes and among jurisdictions will continue to support the smooth transmission of monetary policy. if favourable financing conditions can be maintained with asset purchase flows that do not exhaust the envelope over the net purchase horizon of the pepp, the envelope need not be used in full. equally, the envelope can be recalibrated if required to maintain favourable financing conditions to help counter the negative pandemic shock to the path of inflation. the extension of our pepp purchases over a longer horizon reflects the prolonged fallout from the pandemic for the economy and inflation. it allows for a continuous market presence and more durable support from our monetary stimulus. preserving favourable financing conditions over the pandemic period will help to reduce uncertainty and bolster confidence, thereby encouraging consumer spending and business investment, and, ultimately, underpinning the economic recovery and helping to offset the downward impact of the pandemic on the projected path of inflation. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches we also decided to extend the reinvestment of principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the pepp until at least the end of 2023. in any case, the future roll - off of the pepp portfolio will be managed to avoid interference with the appropriate monetary policy stance. third, the governing council decided to further recalibrate the conditions of the third series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro iii ). specifically, we decided to extend the period over which considerably more favourable terms will apply by twelve months, to june 2022. we will also conduct three additional operations between june and december 2021. moreover, we decided to raise the total amount that counterparties will be entitled to borrow in tltro iii operations from 50 per cent to 55 per cent of their stock of eligible loans. in order to provide an incentive for banks to sustain the current level of bank lending, the recalibrated tltro iii borrowing conditions will be made available only to banks that achieve a new lending performance target. the extension of the pandemic - related low interest rate period under tltro iii, the addition of more operations and the increase in the amount that can potentially be borrowed will preserve the very attractive funding conditions for banks. this will help to ensure that they can continue to offer favourable lending conditions and have ample liquidity to