Chart 7 shows that, at the end of 2008, the Eurosystem’s funding (as a share of total deposit liabilities) to banks in some euro area countries increased markedly. After a mild improvement in euro area money market activity in the second half of 2010, increased borrowing from the Eurosystem was observed again in mid-2011, owing to the intensified sovereign debt crisis.
At the end of the first quarter of 2012, average recourse to central bank funding by euro area banks in respect of total deposit liabilities stood at over 5%, slightly higher than the level observed after the Lehman collapse, with a very wide dispersion across euro area countries.