In an interview with “Ta Nea” newspaper on Wednesday, Bank of Greece (BoG) chief Yannis Stournaras said that that the positive results of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stress tests for the Greek systemic banks give the Greek economy the opportunity to make use of the 11.5 billion Euros of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) with greater flexibility.

According to Mr. Stournaras, the largest part of this amount could be used as a preventive support line, returnable to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

This will ensure that the money will remain available to be used either for the banking system or for the needs of the Greek economy, if such a need occurs.

Moreover, the amount will equally reduce the national debt as long as it is not used and consequently enable the Greek government to negotiate a realistic relaxing of the target for the primary surplus in 2016.