ELA for Greek banks dropped 700 mln last month

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders dropped by 700 million euros, or 1.6 percent, in March compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed on Tuesday.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the European Central Bank, fell to 42.4 billion euros from 43.1 billion euros at the end of February, the data showed.

Banks have relied on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) drawn from the Greek central bank since February 2015 after being cut off from the ECB’s funding window due to stalled bailout talks between the government and its official lenders.

Their dependence on the ELA lifeline has declined since June last year, when the European Central Bank reinstated banks’ access to its cheap funding operations.

[Reuters]