Latest BoG data depict that Greek banks’ ECB funding marginally eased by €0.6bn or 2.0% m-o-m to €30.3bn in September. At the same time, BoG liquidity provided to Greek banks through the ELA mechanism remained almost flat (down €0.2bn or 0.2%) m-o-m at €100.6bn.

Overall, Greek banks’ Eurosystem (ECB plus ELA) funding marginally slipped by €0.8bn or 0.6% m-o-m to €130.9bn in September. Note that Eurosystem funding had slipped by €5.3bn or 3.9% m-o-m to €130.3bn in 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”.