— ECB Declines To Comment On Report
FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank has widened the
collateral pool Greek banks can use to access emergency liquidity
assistance from the Greek central bank, the German daily Die Welt
reported Monday, citing Eurosystem sources.
The move increases Greece’s chances of financing itself by issuing
new short-term debt to avert a default until Athens receives the next
aid tranche from Brussels, the report said.
The ECB declined on Monday evening to comment on the report.
While the ECB will maintain its decision to reduce the total volume
of Greek T-bills it will accept in ELA funding from a temporary E7
billion back to E3 billion, Greek banks will have access to more cash as
the central bank will now accept other additional poorly-rated
securities held by banks.
Using this cash, banks then have the opportunity to buy sovereign
debt enabling the much-needed bridge funding for the country, the
newspaper reported.
–Frankfurt newsroom, +49-69-720-142; jtreeck@mni-news.com
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