Tag Archives: capital controls

I am speechless. Not since yesterday or last week. I have been speechless since July 13th when the Greek left-wing coalition government agreed to burden the country and the people with a new loan, the third bailout for Greece since 2010 together with the strictest austerity program ever. I have …

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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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“The European Central Bank will increase Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek banks today,” chief Mario Draghi said during a press conference on Thursday. The much expected decision comes after the ECB froze ELA on June 26th 2015 enforcing the Greek government and the Bank of Greece to impose  bank holiday …

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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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A secret study by the International Monetary Fund showed that Greece needs far more debt relief than European governments have been willing to contemplate so far. The IMF study is an updated version of July 2nd as it takes into consideration the capital controls imposed since June 29th 2015. “Greece’s …

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Greek Finance Ministry announced on 8. July that banks will remain closed until at least midnight on 13 July 2015, that is one day after the EU Summit on Sunday. The Finance Ministry further announced that   * Daily withdrawal from ATM remains at €60. *Pensioners without credit or debit …

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“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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Do Greece’s creditors follow and apply advises proposed by conservative New Democracy? It is highly interesting that ND parliamentary group leader and former Health Minister Adonis Gerogriadis had already “advised” creditors to not adopt Tsipras’ plan and instead economically drain the country and impose capital controls. Georgiadis’ proposal came after …

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What has been rumored since the morning, takes a shape in the afternoon: that the cash reserves of Greek banks are shrinking. The rumor started when some pensioners could not withdraw €120 on Friday if they had withdrawn €60 via ATM the day before. The concern increased, when several debit …

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One of Greece’s biggest bakery chains announced it will offer bread free of charge to pensioners, poor, jobless and large families in an effort to help vulnerable society groups to cope with capital controls and bank holiday. According to an announcement by Venetis Bakery, the offer will be valid as …

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Greek government is confident that banks will open again as soon as an agreement is reached with the creditors. After Sunday’s referendum, of course, as for the time being EU, ECB and IMf have said in one loud voice that they will not speak/talk/negotiate with Greece before the Referendum. “Greek …

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Credit ratings agency FITCH downgraded Greek banks to Restricted Default (RD) on Capital Controls imposed on Monday, June 29th 2015. FITCH STATEMENT: “Fitch Ratings has today downgraded Greece-based National Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG), Piraeus Bank, S.A. (Piraeus), Eurobank Ergasias S.A. (Eurobank) and Alpha Bank AE’s (Alpha) Long- and Short-term …

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Flour, sugar, pasta, rice, milk and canned tomatoes, food items that do not expire soon are been hastily removed from the super-market selves and land into the housewife’s basket. “There was quite some queue at the cash register and people had their baskets full of pasta, sugar and flour,” a …

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Below are the capital controls restrictions and exceptions based on information by the finance Ministry given to the media. The Greek Finance Ministry has not issued yet the detailed “guide” through the capital controls and bank holiday, it is expected to be issued later on the day. This short summary …

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Tourists and expats living in Greece will not be affected by the capital controls/ATM withdrawals, the Greek government said in a non-paper early Monday. Holders of credit and debit cards issued by Greek banks are not allowed to withdraw more than €60 daily. The exception from the €60-daily-limit refers to …

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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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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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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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As early as 6 o’clock in the morning the’ technical teams’ sat down and picked up the negotiations thread, the institutions and Greece left down in the early morning hours of Thursday. The midnight meeting between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the creditors ended at 12:30 without positive result. …

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So the eurogroup finance ministers allegedly discussed also about imposing Capital Controls in Greece. Custom is that nobody speaks openly about Capital Controls in advance, but suddenly sends banks to “holidays” to the increase the surprise effect and prohibit bank runs. However the Belgian Finance Minister could not keep the …

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