Greek central bank

Greece's business sector welcomed an announcement by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday of a return to normalcy and stability with the full lifting of capital controls imposed at the peak of the financial crisis.

The head of the Athens prosecutor's office, Evangelos Ioannidis, on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the alleged taping by Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis of a private phone conversation with Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

A drop in Greek bank shares was caused by external factors, not the health of the country's banks, the governor of the Bank of Greece said on Wednesday.

Greek banking stocks have lost more than 40 percent so far this year, and the selling pressure grew in recent days. Analysts blamed the European Union's conflict with Italy over its proposed budget.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank has named Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras as a member of the council's audit committee, replacing Erkki Liikanen, the Bank of Greece said on Friday.

Greece's four systemic banks intend to downwardly revise their nonperforming exposure (NPE) targets for 2019 and the years to follow, heeding the call by the Bank of Greece (BoG) for increasing their efforts to clear out their bad-loan stock.

Greek central bank governor Yannis Stournaras reiterated on Wednesday his call for a precautionary credit line for Greece after it exits its adjustment program in August, saying it does not amount to a new bailout.

Stournaras said the precautionary arrangement would help the country borrow from the markets in a sustainable way.

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders dropped by 2.4 billion euros, or 13.5 percent, in February compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed on Monday.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the European Central Bank, dropped to 15.05 billion euros from 17.4 billion euros at the end of January, the data showed.

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders dropped by 4.21 billion euros, or 19.4 percent, in January compared to December last year, Bank of Greece data showed on Monday.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the European Central Bank, dropped to 17.4 billion euros from 21.61 billion euros at the end of December, the data showed.

Emergency central bank funding to Greek lenders dropped by 2.9 billion euros, or 12.7 percent, in November compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece data showed on Tuesday.

Emergency funding, which is more costly than borrowing from the European Central Bank, dropped to 19.85 billion euros from 22.75 billion euros at the end of October, the data showed.

Between its loans to Athens and its debt buying programmes, Germany has cashed in to the tune of €1.34bn since the beginning of the Greek crisis.

Germany’s finance ministry has published details of the profits it has made on loans to Greece: €1.34bn since 2009, according to reports by German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.