Greek bank deposit outflows in Sept-Oct hit 13-14 bln euros

"In September and October, two very bad months due to political uncertainty, we had a loss of 13-14 billion euros," Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos told a parliamentary committee.

"This is a very big amount," he said, adding that bank deposit outflows continued in the first 10 days of November.

October bank deposit outflows jumped about 4.6 percent month-on-month. Based on the governor's estimates the outstanding net deposit outflows stood at 174.6 billion last month.

Deposits in September dropped to 183.2 billion euros from 188.7 billion euros in August, or by 2.9 percent, the Bank of Greece said. It has not yet released data for October.

A shrinking deposit base, in part caused by capital flight, has added to the strains of Greek banks, which have become reliant on European Central Bank funding for their liquidity needs as access to wholesale funding remains shut on sovereign debt fears.

Deposit outflows from Greek accounts have been exacerbated in the past two months by uncertainty over a euro zone bailout for Greece, and wrangling over a new coalition government.

Deposits have shrunk by 26.4 billion euros, or 12.6 percent, since the beginning of 2011. They are down by 49.8 billion euros or 21.3 percent since January 2010 when Greece's debt crisis began.

Provopoulos also said Greece's economy, now in its fourth year of recession, is likely to shrink by more than 5.5 percent in 2011, reiterating the central bank's interim monetary report.