Greek banks are borrowing cheap money from the European Central Bank, further strengthening their liquidity as deposits are up 8.0 pct in the last 12 months, and facilitating their efforts to support the restart of the Greek economy and enterprises, banking officials said on Tuesday.
 A decision by the ECB οn April 7 to restore a waiver on accepting Greek bonds as collateral, offered Greek banks an additional significant tool raising money at negative rates. 
Liquidity from the LTRO mechanism (Long-Term Refinancing Operations) has currently an interest of -0.50 pct and could reach -1.0 pct, allowing the banking sector to strengthen itself and help to deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Greek banks raised 9.2 billion euros from the LTRO mechanism in April. The officials said that the loan/deposit ratio was 78 pct in March, from 92 pct a year ago, while the Liquidity Coverage Ratio was 115 pct. Greek bank deposits totaled 162.4 billion euros at the end of March, from 150.4 billion in March last year.