ECB said to raise Greek bank aid third time in less than a week [Update]
The European Central Bank raised emergency funding for Greek lenders for the third time in less than a week, a person familiar with the decision said.
The Governing Council increased the cap on Emergency Liquidity Assistance in a telephone conference on Monday, and stands ready to reassess the liquidity of Greek lenders in a new call whenever needed, the person said, without stating the amount of the latest increase. The person asked not to be named because the discussion was private. An ECB spokesman declined to comment.
The ECB’s decision to review ELA so soon is a signal to Greece that its situation is serious. Euro-area finance ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Monday, followed by a summit of European leaders, as concern rises that talks on Greece’s bailout program will fail to avert a government default.
A new proposal by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras drew a rare positive nod from officials, who indicated it could help break the months-long impasse. The new offer “was a good basis for progress” ahead of the emergency summit, European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr, said in a Twitter posting.
The Greek central bank received approval to increase ELA by 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to 84.1 billion euros on Wednesday, and by a further 1.8 billion euros on Friday.
ECB President Mario Draghi said last week that liquidity will be extended to Greek banks as long as they are solvent and have sufficient collateral. He also said the ECB is monitoring closely to see if those conditions change.
[Bloomberg]
