Greek bailout review conclusion to bring back deposits, ECB waiver: Greek central banker

[May 13, 2016]  ATHENS (Reuters) - A successful conclusion of Greece's bailout review would lead to the gradual return of deposits and the reinstatement of the European Central Bank's waiver for Greek lenders, Greece's central bank chief said on Friday.

The ECB ditched its waiver on minimum credit rating requirement on Greek debt last year, cutting off Greek banks from cheap lending.

Yannis Stournaras said reinstating the waiver, and Greece's participation in the ECB's quantitative easing program, would have a positive impact of 400-500 million euros on Greek bank results in 2017.

Stournaras said debt talks between Greece and its EU/IMF lenders should be accompanied by lowering of the primary budget surplus target from 3.5 percent to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) after 2018. That could reduce Greek debt to below 100 percent of GDP in 2030 and to 89 percent in 2035.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Angeliki Koutantou)

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