Fresh rise in bank deposits last month
Bank deposits in Greece strengthened a further 359 million euros in May, raising their sum at commercial lenders to €168.1 billion at the end of last month, from €167.7 billion at end-April, according to Bank of Greece data.
Out of the €359 million added to Greek bank accounts in May, €281 million came from enterprises and €78 million from households.
Data analysis shows however that it is the broader business sector excluding financial services (banks, insurance companies etc) that enjoyed increased liquidity of €1.5 billion last month, while financial sector companies posted a reduction of €1.2 billion, affecting the overall performance of corporations in deposit growth; this is related to the sector’s features and constitutes a permanent trend in relation to its liquidity.
Credit expansion showed signs of relenting in May compared to the previous months, as it came to 6.2% in May, against 6.7% in April and 7.9% in March.
The financing of the economy ranks high in the Finance Ministry’s agenda and will be the main topic of a video conference next week between Minister Christos Staikouras and representatives of the market and the banks.
