All branches of Greek banks re-opened on Monday after three weeks enforced holiday imposed on June 29th 2015. While banks broaden their services, capital controls remain valid. The low daily withdrawal limit remains €60 per day, however depositors will have the option to withdraw up to €420 cumulative per week. …
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Tsipras: I cannot say with certainty we avoided Grexit until bailout finalized
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was interviewed by state ERT TV on Tuesday evening. It was his first interview after the Brussels agreement on Monday morning with the Euro leaders. Below I copy paste my tweets with Tsipras’ answers to journalists’ questions. Tsipras’ answers: Schaeuble told Varoufakis in March, tell your …
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Greeks holding their breath and money, with eyes fixed on Brussels
“I have enough cash and enough food at home. Now, I sit and wait,” a friend told me this morning. Anna is extremely worried that creditors will let Greece down with whatever the cost for the society. “They want Greece out of the euro and the EU, whatever the government …
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FinMin Yanis Varoufakis resigns, background
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis submitted his resignation on Monday morning after Greeks rejected creditors’ proposal with 61.31%. Below is what the “star” FinMin wrote in his blog. 11:25 am The name of the new Finance Minister is to be announced after the Political Leaders Council currently conveying under President Pavlopoulos. …
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Referendum final: NO 61.3%, YES 38.6%; SAMARAS resigns
Ballot boxes closed at 7 o’ clock in the afternoon. Immediately, several private television channels started to public results of public opinion surveys conducted among Greeks before and after they voted. However these results were not exit polls. Orange: NO Green YES Live Blog starts here 07:30 pm – First …
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Schaeuble threatens Referendum voters with “temporary euro exit” and “bank collapse”
Creditors’ last attempt to scaremonger Greece’s voters before the Referendum. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his happily-waving-tail tabloid BILD joined forces to influence Referendum voters. In his interview, Schaeuble warns Greeks with a very vague plan of a “temporary exit from the eurozone” if NO wins. Saturday noon, the …
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Banks opened for Pensioners: Queues, fainting, outrage, chaos
In some bank branch, the first pensioner arrived already short after midnight. The second, half an hour later. The third around 2 in the morning. By 5 am the queues outside the banks in the big cities were already very long. Some pensioners had brought plastic stools and chairs, a …
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PM Tsipras’ speech on Eurogroup decision & Capital Controls
Below is the full statement by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday evening, after the Greek Systemic Stability Council proposed to impose Capital controls and banks closure as of tomorrow, Monday, June 29th 2015, for at least 6 working days. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ statement on the latest developments …
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Greece: Capital Controls, Banks closed. Live Blog from Athens
o7:50 pm June 28 2015: +++ According to Greek media reports, the Greek Systemic Stability Council decided to impose capital controls and close the banks as of Monday, 29th June 2015. Specific rules and arrangements not published yet. The Greek SSC is currently preparing a statement on the issue. The …
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UPD2 Varoufakis to BBC: Gov’t examines capital controls and closing banks on Monday
Greek Finance Minister reportedly told BBC Radio 4, that the government will examine imposing capital controls as of Sunday night and closing banks as of Monday. Varoufakis statement comes as the board of European Central Bank is currently deciding whether it will continue Emergency Liquidity Assistance to Greek banks. It …
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Greeks rush to ATMs to withdraw cash as PM announces Referendum
It started with a false claim and soon spread like wild fire. The claim on Friday evening was that a certain Greek bank had limited cash withdrawals from ATMs. The claim ‘coincided” with the fact that it was a pension payday and people had gone to the ATMs to withdraw …
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“Capital Controls”: Creditors’ latest scare-mongering mantra to increase pressure on Greece
The risk of capital controls is allegedly high as Greece rejects creditors’ absurd demands and dictates. The risk is considered “high” because the uncertainty pushes more and more savers to withdraw more and more money from the banks that on their part rely on Emergency Liquidity Assistance provided by the …
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EU studies Spain, Italy, Greece & Portugal over banks’ potentially illegal deferred tax assets
European Union regulators are scrutinising four EU countries’ treatment of banks’ deferred tax assets (DTAs) to see if they constitute potentially illegal state aid, the European Commission said on Tuesday. The EU executive said it had contacted authorities in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece following requests from some lawmakers in …
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Ex FinMin admits he sent €450K abroad in June 2012 “afraid Greece would collapse”
What did the economic adviser to PM Lucas Papadimos do right right between the two elections of 2012? He transferred €450 thousands abroad out of fear the country would collapse. Τwo years later, the same man, Gkikas Hardouvelis accepted PM Samaras’ offer and assumed the office of finance ministry of …
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Greece will face problems to pay IMF & ECB in July, but Germany wants a 3. bailout package
“Greece does not have liquidity problems but in will face trouble to make installment payments to IMF and ECB in July,” Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Greek Alpha 98,9 FM on Wednesday. Asked about whether there will be a liquidity problem in the near future, Yanis Varoufakis said: We have …
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Greek businessman had €500,000 confiscated at Cyprus customs
Greek Businessman Anonymous: he allegedly stuffed €500,000 in cash in his luggage and flew to Cyprus to deposit the money in local banks. However the banks refused to accept the money as he had no documents to prove where the money came from or if it was declared to the …
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The looting of public money goes on – every day a new example despite the crisis
I had this comment on KTG-blog the other day asking me ‘why Greeks do not pay taxes as the rest of Europeans’. It was a comment under the post with the title “Surprised? 50% of self-employed do not pay social security contributions to OAEE “. The question could also be …
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Gikas Hardouvelis: who is Greece’s new Finance Minister?
Two seem to be the key features of Greece’s new Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis: that he knows the euro mechanism and he knows the banks. Hardouvelis is a professor of Finance & Economics at the University of Piraeus and Cheif Economist and Director of Research at the EUROBANK. He served …
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Theory vs Reality gap revealed by “decent living standards criteria” issued by Greek government
How much money does one need to cover monthly basic needs while living in Greece? Well, it depends…. In fact, it depends on who decides. The Troika, the government institutions, the banks, the employers or just the person concerned? The views seem to vary between the theoretical approach and the …
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Greek Big Brother: FinMin to collect all financial data about everything (huh?)
The time of truth has come. The time of financial and economic truth. Greek Finance Ministry will collect all possible and impossible information from citizens via data that banks, private clinics, private schools, insurance companies, utility and telephone companies will send to it. By March 31st 2014, all these will …
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