ATHENS: The European Central Bank lowered the cap on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) Greek banks draw from the domestic central bank by 1.4 billion euros to 57.2 billion euros ($62.9 billion), the Bank of Greece said on Thursday.

The move reflected an improvement in the liquidity conditions in Greek banks and the stabilisation of private sector deposit flows, it said. The ELA ceiling is valid and up to September 8.

Greek banks have relied on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) since February 2015 after being cut off from the ECB's funding window. Emergency funding is more costly than borrowing directly from the ECB.

Copyright Reuters, 2016