FRANKFURT, Germany, July 22 (UPI) — The European Central Bank’s increase of emergency assets Wednesday eased pressure on Greek banks caught in a liquidity crisis.
The ECB raised the limit of its Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) by 900 million Euros ($980 million) to banks frozen for the past several months by negotiations between Greece and its creditors over a bailout package. It was the second cash infusion in less than a week, and an assurance that banks have cash on hand to give account holders, at the rate of 60 Euros ($65) per day.
The decision to raise the limit came two days after Greece paid the ECB 4.2 billion Euros ($4.575 billion) to redeem bonds held by the central bank, averting a default, which could have cut off ECB funding. It also came after a three-week freeze on injections of cash into the Greek economy.
“Several positive things have happened that would justify the increase in ELA that we approved,” said ECB President Mario Draghi.
The Greek parliament is expected to vote this week on another round of reforms insisted on by its creditors.
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