The European Central Bank (ECB) increased its annual profit in 2018 thanks to income from the huge bond portfolio it had built up under its stimulus programme, the ECB said on Thursday.

The ECB's profit rose to 1.58 billion euro last year from 1.28 billion euros a year earlier, mainly as a result of higher net interest income earned on the U.S. dollar portfolio and on bonds bought as part of the 2.6 trillion euro asset purchase programme.