ELA funding to Greek banks declines 2 pct

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders fell by 900 million euros, or 2 percent, in January compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed on Wednesday.

Banks have relied on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) drawn from the Greek central bank since February 2015 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 June last year when the ECB reinstated banks’ access to its cheap funding operations.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the ECB, dropped to 42.8 billion euros at the end of January from 43.7 billion euros at the end of December, the data showed.

[Reuters]