According to the latest BoG data, Greek banks’ ECB funding rose by €6.9bn m-o-m to €30.9bn in August. At the same time, BoG liquidity provided to Greek banks through the ELA mechanism eased by €5.5bn m-o-m to €100.8bn.

Overall, Greek banks’ Eurosystem (ECB plus ELA) funding slightly rose by €1.4bn or 1.1% m-o-m to €131.7bn in August. Note that Eurosystem funding had slipped by €5.3bn or 3.9% m-o-m to €130.3bn July (the first monthly drop since April), while June figure (€135.6bn) was the second historic highest after the peak of €157.1bn recorded in February.

It is reminded that ECB funding had recorded a sharp drop in July (-€49.7bn) with a consequent increase in ELA liquidity (+€44.4bn) since GGBs are not accepted as collateral by ECB as of July 25. In particular, ECB had announced on July 20 that “due to the expiration on July 25 of the buy-back scheme for marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic, these instruments will become for the time being ineligible for use as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations”.