July witnessed a slackening in a hoped-for increase of deposits in Greek banks, dampening initial hopes in the domestic credit sector that a loosening of still imposed capital controls -- announced earlier in the summer -- would return more cash into local banks’ vaults.
June 2016 posted an increase of one billion euros in Greek bank deposits, only to be followed by a decrease of 396 million euros held by legal entities and businesses. Conversely, deposits held by households were up by 232 million euros.
Initial optimism was linked to the fact that new deposits are now excluded from capital controls. The latter were imposed almost simultaneously with a hurriedly called referendum late last June by the leftist Greek government in order to prevent a bank run.
A forecast for a return of six billion euros over the course of 2016 has been steadily revised downwards, with the unofficial target now a very modest hike of two billion euros.
Conversely, a positive trend over the same month, according to figures released by the Bank of Greece, is an increase in bank financing towards retail businesses, following a long and continuous slide.
