The European Central Bank said Thursday it will hold its key interest rates at record lows, end its 1.85-trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) pandemic-era bond purchasing programme (PEPP) in March but ramp up a pre-crisis asset buying scheme to ease the transition and bolster the Eurozone economy.

The ECB will wind down the pace of PEPP purchases in the first quarter of 2022 and "will discontinue net asset purchases under the PEPP at the end of March 2022," it said.