Amid fruitless negotiations between Greece’s anti-austerity coalition government and its international creditors over the terms of the current bailout program, Greek bank deposits fell in April to 139.4 billion euros, down from 145 billion euros in March, according to data released by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday. The new level of private deposits in Greece is the lowest since September 2004 due to the continuous uncertainty and fears about Greece’s future in the European Union. With the pace of outflows picked up and deposits dropping steadily since October, Greek lenders have lost access to capital markets and the European Central Bank’s financing operations. They are now dependent on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) from the domestic central bank to plug the hole from deposit withdrawals and survive, while they are forced to participate in liquidity-draining auctions of government treasury bills.
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