Bank deposits trimmed by 178 mln euros
Bank deposits decreased by 178 million euros in August, taking the total for household savings and enterprises’ ready cash to 162.2 billion euros, according to Bank of Greece data released on Thursday.
At the same time credit continued to shrink, at a rate of 3.9 percent, bringing the total of private sector loan debts to 221.8 billion euros from 222.4 billion euros in July. The net flow of corporate and household funding was negative as loan repayments exceeded loans issued by 823 million euros.
The return of deposits since the first half of 2012 (when 18 billion euros left bank accounts) has only reached 8 billion. This has led to a liquidity squeeze at banks, which as a result cannot extend more credit.
