A move to let Greek banks again swap their country’s government bonds for ultra-cheap European Central Bank funding is being discussed, Greece’s deputy central bank governor said yesterday.

Speaking at an event organised by OMFIF in London, Ioannis Mourmouras said the reinstatement of a waiver for Greek bonds is “on (ECB president) Mario Draghi’s agenda”, adding Draghi had mentioned it publicly back in September.

Last week ECB vice president Vitor Constancio said the key to the waiver’s reinstatement was that Athens showed it was sticking to its rescue programme and implementing reforms.

“An open issue is what the level of ‘haircuts’ (the amount the ECB deducts from the face value of Greek bonds as an insurance policy) will be applied,” he added “If they are similar to those of December 2012 Greek banks’ eligible collateral would increase by around €15 billion.”

Since February, Greek banks have been surviving on more costly Emergency Liquidity Assistance provided by the Greek central bank, so they are keen to get the ECB waiver reinstated.

Mourmouras said it would be a vital factor in determining whether the country will be able to regain access to capital markets, which he said could happen as early as the second half of next year. There is also, however, the issue of removing capital controls.

He said lifting them too soon would be risky. Roughly €32 billion of €40 billion that was taken out of Greek banks by fearful account holders earlier this year has still not come back.

“The problem with capital controls is that they are easy to implement but more difficult to lift.” He also urged the eurozone to put in place more economic growth friendly policies to supplement the measures the ECB is taking. Greece is expected to remain in recession next year he added, before returning to growth in 2017.

“The question is if this (ECB stimulus) enough to avert the negative spiral of loan inflation and falling inflation expectations, or whether we also need in Europe, in the eurozone, other macro economic policies to supplement what Draghi is doing.”

For Greece he proposed substantial cuts in corporate tax to a flat rate of just 15 per cent by 2020 and locked in place till 2015.

He also said the government should concentrate on getting the grace periods on its existing bailout loans extended and converting variable rates on future funding to low-cost fixed rates, rather than pushing for a straight write off.

“This low interest rate environment is certainly not going to last forever,” Mourmouras said.

If it could secure the better terms its sovereign credit rating could also rise, which in turn could bring Greek bonds closer to qualifying for the ECB’s now €1.5 trillion quantitative easing programme.