Benefiting from the macroeconomic stabilisation, the situation in the Greek banking sector also gradually improved during the first year of the programme, although it is far from having regained the ground lost in the first half of 2015. Since the bank recapitalisation in late 2015, the focus has been on resolving non-performing loans (NPLs) and on improving bank governance.
The non-performing exposure (NPE) ratio of Greek banks is very high – 49% in June 2016. Reducing it is a key precondition for gradually restoring an adequate and efficient supply of credit to the Greek economy, and for achieving sustained growth. Some important legislative reforms in this direction have already been passed.