Governor of Bank of Greece and former finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters in Thessaloniki on Friday “If we have an agreement on May 24th and everything goes according to plan [he said exactly: according to wish], then capital controls will be lifted.”
When he was asked to determine when the capital controls would be lifted, the politician Stournaras won over the financier.
“This is function of the progress of the Greek economy. They will be lifted when trust in Greek economy is restored (the when) I can not say today and I do not tend to make such predictions. However if we have an agreement, things will begin to evolve.”
Yannis Stournaras added that “developments are positive. The apparent agreement puts an end to a long period of uncertainty and I believe that if we then implement the provisions of the agreement soon, we will get back to growth. ”
He was similarly specific in his prediction about when the European Central Bank will restore the famous waiver i.e. accepting Greek bonds as collateral. Stournaras predicted: “The ECB will restore it when there is the agreement and in accordance with its rules.”
Odd! The same question about capital controls was posed two days ago by our youngest kitty member, exactly 13 months old, and had me wondering why the euphoric Greek government had not wasted a single word on lifting the capital controls while it was cheering about the Eurogroup success on Monday. I therefore mentioned our observations on this post here.
Today both the kitten and me received our answers: the Bank of Greece has nothing to say on this issue and the government even less than this.
PS the kitty predicted also that the suns rises on a daily basis and that the moon is there at night even if clouds in the sky. Kitty was hired to teach in kitty school.
I clearly recall reading, (here?), that capital controls would be lifted after the 1st quarter of 2016. Politicians have short memories and so it seems with the electorate.
It was clearly a lie. Everyone knows that once you impose capital controls, it is very difficult to remove them. It has to be done slowly, piece by piece to avoid a run on the banks. That is why the Syriza government pays a fortune to a South Korean banking expert, to get the best advice in the world on how to escape the mess…
Lift capital controls?? It will never happen. Stournaras is a proven liar. And as we see it doesn’t apply to the rich, people like Stournaras and his masters.