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Government takes the money of government institutions as deposits flee from banks

27 March 2015 / 14:03:07  GRReporter
1909 reads

Deposits in Greek banks have fallen to their lowest level over the past decade, as shown by the data of the Bank of Greece, the main reason being the withdrawal of savings by Greek households.

In particular, the total amount of deposits was 140.47 billion euro in late February and the decline was in the range of 7.58 billion euro, 5.35 billion euro of which were withdrawn by individuals. At the same time, the monthly outflow of deposits of non-financial enterprises amounted to 1.9 billion euro.

Greeks continue to withdraw amounts from their term deposits, which fell by 4.1 billion euro in February.

From the end of November 2014 to the end of February 2015, the amounts in term deposit accounts decreased by 15.92 billion euro, which is equal to 65% of the total deposit flight during this period when the total deposit amount was 23.8 billion euro.

Significantly, the decrease in the financial statements of individuals was only associated with fixed-term deposits, as they had been terminated before the term set or had not been renewed.

According to Reuters, deposits in Greek banks fell by 7.8 billion euro in February and their total amount was 147.523 billion euro at the end of the month.

The publication states that the decrease in deposits in Greece contrasts with the situation in other euro zone member states, where the levels are generally stable.

Deposit flight from Greek banks in February followed that in January, when the total amount of withdrawn deposits was 12.7 billion euro.

At the same time, the government is trying to fill the state treasury in all possible ways. The Greek media report that 80 million euro of the total 350 million euro in the reserve fund of the Region of Attica are to be transferred to a special account at the Bank of Greece.

According to the newspaper To Vima, the members of the majority (of the ruling SYRIZA party) tried to convince their colleagues in the regional council that the opening of an account at the Bank of Greece was in favour of the regional authority, because the interest rate there was 0.4% higher.

Opposition leader in the regional council Georgios Koumoutsakos (New Democracy) opposed the proposal. He said he did not understand why this decision had to be taken so urgently and that it would not ensure the security of the reserve fund. Koumoutsakos even hinted that in these tough and cunning times for Greece this action could be defined as a fraud committed by an official.

The members of the group of district governor Rena Dourou of SYRIZA subjected the proposal to voting having established the presence of the majority required. Therefore, the decision on the money transfer to the Bank of Greece was taken late on Thursday.

The management board of the Organisation for Employment and Labour Resources decided at an extraordinary meeting to transfer to the Bank of Greece 120 million euro of the total amount available to the Organisation.

It is worth noting that the Greek cabinet is insistent in its pressure on insurance funds, state institutions and state-owned enterprises to invest the money available in government bonds. In this way, the government is seeking to solve the liquidity crisis that has deepened after the refusal of Brussels to give Athens the sum of 1.2 billion euro from the Financial Stability Facility.

Tags: PoliticsBanksDeposit flightGovernmentLack of liquidityState institutionsBank of GreeceGovernment bonds
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