ELA funding for Greek banks falls by 1.79 bln euros

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders fell by 2.6 percent or 1.79 billion euros in March compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed Thursday.

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

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the ECB, fell to 66.19 billion euros at the end of last month from 67.98 billion in February, the data showed, as liquidity conditions improved.