By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - The European Central Bank made no profits last year, in a decline from €192 million ($201.6 million) in 2021.
According to an official statement released Thursday, the bank therefore will not be distributing any net earnings to eurozone central banks.
The bank's net income from interest payments totaled just €900 million in 2022, down from €1.56 billion in 2021.
It said the main driver of the decrease compared to the previous year was the ECB's interest expenses resulting from its net Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system 2 liability, which amounted to €2.07 billion.
Net interest income from securities held for monetary policy purposes increased to €1.5 billion, up from €1 billion in 2021.
"The total size of the ECB's Balance Sheet increased by €19 billion to €699 billion," the bank added.
The EUR/USD exchange rate was 1.05 on average in 2022.