ECB ups funding for Greece through ELA

The European Central Bank increased its funding for Greek banks.

That came as the deadline for Greece to reach an agreement with its international creditors neared a critical moment.

The Mediterranean country´s financial situation was also increasingly precarious. Data released on Thursday showed government revenues came in at just €900m in May or 24% short of the Treasury´s target – amid reports that Greeks were hoarding their financial resources.

A record €1bn was withdrawn from Greek banks in a single 24-hour period on Thursday, according to three senior banking sources cited by Reuters on Friday morning. eKhatimerini reported the total deposit outflow reached €1.2bn on Thursday and €3bn since the beginning of the week.

According to various reports the ECB on Friday increased its support to the country´s banks through its ELA facility and would meet again on Monday to re-evaluate the situation. However, whereas some reports indicated that ELA assistance had been upped by €3.3bn as per the petition made by Greece´s central bank others said it had in fact been increased by only €1.1bn.

The above followed an emergency conference between Greece and the ECB held earlier on Friday, although the details of the same have not been made public.

As of 13:39 the yield on the benchmark 10-year Greek government bond was falling by 45 basis points to reach 12.59%.