(UPD) ECB President Mario Draghi announced the decision of the board members of the European Central to raise the ELA to Greek banks. Liquidity for the Greek banks will be raised by 900 million Euros, while Greek citizens will be allowed to withdraw 18o Euros every 3 days from ATMs, instead of 60 every day which was the limit. Draghi said that 8.1 bln Euros left the Greek banking system in June, while he defended the imposition of capital controls saying it protected the Greek banks. This comes in the wake of the Greek parliament passing a set of harsh measures, which were prerequisites by the EU institutions for discussion to start on a new 3-year bailout plan. The ECB’s decision is a great relief for the battered Greek economy and its banking system which was on the verge of total collapse.

After the Greek parliament passed the set of prerequisite measures as demanded by the EU institutions, all eyes are on the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting in Frankfurt Thursday. The ECB is expected to announce its decisions on whether it will raise the ELA level for the suffocating Greek banks, which have been closed for nearly 3 weeks. A green light by the ECB would be a crucial lifeline to the Greek economy which has virtually come to a standstill, Cash is rapidly running out and economic activity has declined dramatically. Some experts are optimistic about the ECB’s decision predicting it should raise ELA to 89 bln Euros as gesture after the result of the vote in the Greek parliament Thursday. “I believe the ECB will raise the ELA to Greek banks, either Thursday or Friday through a teleconference”, said Frederik Ducrozet of Credit Agricole. Others are less optimistic about the Central bank releasing liquidity to Greek banks pointing out that the ratification by the Greek parliament is just one step in the whole process of upping the ELA.