Greek banks’ ELA funding drops in November

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders fell by 2.8 percent, or 1.3 billion euros, in November compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed on Tuesday.

Banks have relied on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) drawn from the Greek central bank since February last year after being cut off from the European Central Bank’s funding window due to stalled bailout talks between the government and its official lenders.

Their dependence on the ELA emergency lifeline has declined since late June when the ECB reinstated banks’ access to its cheap funding operations.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the European Central Bank, dropped to 45 billion euros at the end of November from 46.3 billion euros at the end of October, the data showed.

Earlier this month the ECB lowered the cap on ELA liquidity Greek banks draw from the Bank of Greece by 200 million euros to 50.7 billion euros.

The ceiling will be reviewed on January 11.

[Reuters]