4  Figure 3 Bank deposits and reliance on central bank funding (Q1 2008 to end-February 2018)  Banks’ dependence on the ELA emergency lifeline has declined significantly to around € billion during this month, from € billion at the end of 2015 and is expected to be terminated before the end of the year.
Another visible improvement in the Greek banking sector was the increase of the total deposits between end-June 2015 and March 2018 by € billion (or 8.0%) to € billion. Last but not least, a major pending issue is the tackling of the problem posed by the high stock of non-performing loans, the ‘Achilles heel’ of the Greek banking system.