BERLIN, Aug 4, (Agencies): The European Central Bank (ECB) has saved Greece from bankruptcy for the time being by securing it interim financing in the form of additional emergency loans from the Bank of Greece, German newspaper Die Welt said on Saturday.
The ECB’s Governing Council agreed at its meeting on Thursday to increase the upper limit for the amount of Greek short-term loans the Bank of Greece can accept in exchange for emergency loans, the newspaper said in an advance copy of the article due to appear in its Saturday edition.
Until now the Bank of Greece could only accept T-Bills up to a limit of 3 billion euros ($3.70 billion) as collateral for emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) but it has applied to have this limit increased to 7 billion euros, the daily said, citing central bank sources.
The ECB Governing Council gave this wish the green light, the paper said.
The move should enable the Greek government to access up to an extra 4 billion euros of funds, the paper said, adding that this should ensure the country keeps its head above water until the “troika” of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund decide on the disbursement of the next tranche of money from its aid program in September.
The ECB declined to comment, the paper said.

Rescue
The “troika” of creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the ECB — are to decide in September whether to unlock a 31.5-billion-euro loan disbursement as part of Greece’s latest 130-billion-euro rescue package.
The ECB decided Thursday to raise the limit on the amount of treasury bills the Bank of Greece could accept as collateral for emergency aid to seven billion euros from three billion, Die Welt said, quoting central bank sources.
EU and IMF auditors are due to hold a final meeting with Greek officials this week to discuss budget cuts needed to unlock the next tranche of aid in September.
Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurozone finance ministers group, will visit Greece on Aug 22, the office of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said Friday.
Greece has been bailed out twice by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, with auditors currently reviewing progress it has made on reforms and economic targets to see if it merits its next aid disbursement.

The EU-IMF auditors are due to hold a final meeting with Greek officials this weekend and then return to the country when spending cuts worth 11.5 billion euros are finalised, a finance ministry source said Thursday.
The budget cuts, applicable in 2013 and 2014, were originally to have been finalised last month but back-to-back elections postponed the decision.
They are necessary to unlock a 31.5-billion-euro ($39-billion) loan disbursement by September, part of the country’s latest 130-billion-euro rescue package from the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank.
Samaras on Wednesday overcame reservations over the new savings from his socialist and moderate leftist coalition partners, who are wary of imposing new cuts on a population struggling after years of austerity.
The semi-state run ANA news agency said Samaras is in turn due to visit Paris and Berlin on August 24 and 25 for talks with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In other news, Greek police announced Saturday the launch of an operation two days earlier to evict undocumented immigrants from central Athens as tensions rise over immigration in the debt-choked country.
Immigrants are being sent back either to their native countries or to special centres in northern Greece, police said.
Located in the southeastern extremity of the European Union, Greece has become a popular transit point for migrants from Asia or Africa seeking to enter the bloc.

But as the country struggles with a crippling economic crisis and sweeping austerity cuts, social tensions are on the rise and the increase in undocumented immigrants has fuelled xenophobia and racist attacks.
For the first time in Greek political history, the country recently voted into parliament a neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, which has promised to purge the country of illegal migrants.
Current figures show Greece has about 800,000 legally-registered immigrants, while the number of immigrants without papers is estimated at more than 350,000.
On Wednesday police said they were tripling the number of guards along Greece’s border with Turkey, boosting the presence from 600 to 1,800, to ward off any influx of Syrian refugees.
The Athens operation comes as the “troika” of creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank — meet with Greek officials to discuss the budget cuts needed to unlock the next tranche of aid in September, worth 31.5 billion euros.
Four months ago, Greece’s Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection ran a similar eviction operation in conjunction with a number of city halls.