Hand over OUR money, desperate Greeks beg the banks: Tourists can withdraw more cash from ATMs than country's own citizens - as thousands protest against bailout deal
Massive queues build at cash machines in Greece as loan deadline looms
Athens must repay £1.1billion to creditors tomorrow or risk defaulting
Banks didn't open yesterday and citizens can only withdraw €60 (£42) a day
Tens of thousands of anti-austerity protesters took to the streets last night
By Richard Pendlebury In Athens For The Daily Mail
Published: 22:29 GMT, 29 June 2015 | Updated: 00:40 GMT, 30 June 2015
Everybody loves a summer bank holiday. Unless, that is, you are Greek and your life savings are held prisoner in one of your country’s banks.
At a cash machine at a branch of the Alpha Bank on Syntagma Square in Athens, between the Greek Parliament and the Ministry of Finance, Dimitris Togias was confused.
‘Why can’t I get my money out?’ the 70-year-old asked. ‘How will I get my pension? It’s small enough as it is. My bank card doesn’t seem to work properly any more. Perhaps I should try another branch.’
Mr Togias could try, of course, but he would do no better anywhere else between Crete and Greek Macedonia.
t should have been a normal working day in Greece yesterday. But these are abnormal, financially apocalyptic times. The banks did not open. Nor did the Athenian stock exchange. Most will remain closed for the rest of the week, at least. Perhaps longer. The Left-wing Syriza government simply doesn’t dare let them operate normally.
In the current parlous circumstances, to do so would be like cutting a patient’s carotid artery. The rightly frightened bank customers would empty the vaults of euros until the Greek economy, already on its deathbed, was bled dry. This is what a first-world country that is bankrupt in all but name looks like.
Some time today, when the current Brussels bailout expires and if Greece defaults on the repayment of a 1.6 billion-euro loan to the International Monetary Fund, that bankruptcy will be one step closer – as will an exit from the eurozone.
As unseasonal heavy rain compounded their misery, worried savers, many of them elderly, lined up at those few Athenian cash machines which were still operating after a weekend of panicky withdrawals.
Meanwhile, filling stations were imposing 20-euro limits for petrol transactions because people were beginning to hoard. Reports from supermarkets also suggested that canned and dried goods were being stockpiled by customers. ‘It’s as if we are expecting a war,’ a Greek colleague remarked.
This anxiety was prompted by Friday’s breakdown of talks between Greece and the other eurozone countries over a new 12 billion-euro bailout package and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s announcement of a referendum to be held on Sunday. The ballot paper is not complicated. Voters are asked simply to answer oxi (no) or nai (yes) to the financial package offered by Brussels.
For the record, Mr Togias will vote ‘No’ because he feels the Germans and the other foreigners are making his people suffer unnecessarily.
Holiday firms have warned families they will lose their money if they cancel summer trips to Greece because of the financial turmoil.
The industry trade body, ABTA, says there is no legitimate reason not to visit the country and therefore travellers cannot pull out and expect a refund.
ABTA spokesman Sean Tipton said: ‘There shouldn’t be any reason for anyone not to travel, but if they still chose to cancel, normal booking conditions of airlines, hotels and tour operators would apply with any relevant cancellation fees. These fees would not be covered by travel insurance as it would be deemed “disinclination to travel”.
‘At present we have no indication that holidaymakers will be disrupted however, as with all destination matters, we will continue to monitor the situation and work with our members on any developments.
‘This is an unusual situation, but the industry is experienced in handling unusual situations.’
Those Greeks wanting their cash in hand yesterday could get a little, but not as much as some of them obviously desired. Overnight, the government had imposed ‘capital controls’ which limited the amount Greeks could withdraw from cash machines to 60 euros (£42) a day. Economists call it a ‘liquidity problem’. To the Greeks in the street it feels like theft.
Last night it was announced that 850 bank branches would be allowed to open on Thursday so that pensioners, many of whom do not have bank cards, can withdraw their allowances.
But Greeks have already withdrawn 30 billion euros from the country’s financial institutions since Syriza came to power five months ago vowing to face down enforced austerity and the EU money men. Those euros are now under mattresses or abroad. The haemorrhage had to be stopped before there was a run on the banks and the coffers were emptied completely.
For the moment foreign bank customers on holiday here do not have a formalised cash restriction. The problem is finding a cash machine with sufficient funds.
To this end yesterday, I carried out a simple experiment at a branch of the Attica Bank.
First my translator put her Greek bank card into the cash machine and asked for 100 euros. The machine’s response was immediate: ‘You have exceeded the daily limit.’
Then I put my British bank card in the machine and asked for the same amount. I got it, without electronic demur.
The Greeks are now second-class financial citizens in their own country.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-1-1billion-loan-deadline.html#ixzz3eYdAJk2n
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Massive queues build at cash machines in Greece as loan deadline looms
Athens must repay £1.1billion to creditors tomorrow or risk defaulting
Banks didn't open yesterday and citizens can only withdraw €60 (£42) a day
Tens of thousands of anti-austerity protesters took to the streets last night
By Richard Pendlebury In Athens For The Daily Mail
Published: 22:29 GMT, 29 June 2015 | Updated: 00:40 GMT, 30 June 2015
Everybody loves a summer bank holiday. Unless, that is, you are Greek and your life savings are held prisoner in one of your country’s banks.
At a cash machine at a branch of the Alpha Bank on Syntagma Square in Athens, between the Greek Parliament and the Ministry of Finance, Dimitris Togias was confused.
‘Why can’t I get my money out?’ the 70-year-old asked. ‘How will I get my pension? It’s small enough as it is. My bank card doesn’t seem to work properly any more. Perhaps I should try another branch.’
Mr Togias could try, of course, but he would do no better anywhere else between Crete and Greek Macedonia.
t should have been a normal working day in Greece yesterday. But these are abnormal, financially apocalyptic times. The banks did not open. Nor did the Athenian stock exchange. Most will remain closed for the rest of the week, at least. Perhaps longer. The Left-wing Syriza government simply doesn’t dare let them operate normally.
In the current parlous circumstances, to do so would be like cutting a patient’s carotid artery. The rightly frightened bank customers would empty the vaults of euros until the Greek economy, already on its deathbed, was bled dry. This is what a first-world country that is bankrupt in all but name looks like.
Some time today, when the current Brussels bailout expires and if Greece defaults on the repayment of a 1.6 billion-euro loan to the International Monetary Fund, that bankruptcy will be one step closer – as will an exit from the eurozone.
As unseasonal heavy rain compounded their misery, worried savers, many of them elderly, lined up at those few Athenian cash machines which were still operating after a weekend of panicky withdrawals.
Meanwhile, filling stations were imposing 20-euro limits for petrol transactions because people were beginning to hoard. Reports from supermarkets also suggested that canned and dried goods were being stockpiled by customers. ‘It’s as if we are expecting a war,’ a Greek colleague remarked.
This anxiety was prompted by Friday’s breakdown of talks between Greece and the other eurozone countries over a new 12 billion-euro bailout package and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s announcement of a referendum to be held on Sunday. The ballot paper is not complicated. Voters are asked simply to answer oxi (no) or nai (yes) to the financial package offered by Brussels.
For the record, Mr Togias will vote ‘No’ because he feels the Germans and the other foreigners are making his people suffer unnecessarily.
Holiday firms have warned families they will lose their money if they cancel summer trips to Greece because of the financial turmoil.
The industry trade body, ABTA, says there is no legitimate reason not to visit the country and therefore travellers cannot pull out and expect a refund.
ABTA spokesman Sean Tipton said: ‘There shouldn’t be any reason for anyone not to travel, but if they still chose to cancel, normal booking conditions of airlines, hotels and tour operators would apply with any relevant cancellation fees. These fees would not be covered by travel insurance as it would be deemed “disinclination to travel”.
‘At present we have no indication that holidaymakers will be disrupted however, as with all destination matters, we will continue to monitor the situation and work with our members on any developments.
‘This is an unusual situation, but the industry is experienced in handling unusual situations.’
Those Greeks wanting their cash in hand yesterday could get a little, but not as much as some of them obviously desired. Overnight, the government had imposed ‘capital controls’ which limited the amount Greeks could withdraw from cash machines to 60 euros (£42) a day. Economists call it a ‘liquidity problem’. To the Greeks in the street it feels like theft.
Last night it was announced that 850 bank branches would be allowed to open on Thursday so that pensioners, many of whom do not have bank cards, can withdraw their allowances.
But Greeks have already withdrawn 30 billion euros from the country’s financial institutions since Syriza came to power five months ago vowing to face down enforced austerity and the EU money men. Those euros are now under mattresses or abroad. The haemorrhage had to be stopped before there was a run on the banks and the coffers were emptied completely.
For the moment foreign bank customers on holiday here do not have a formalised cash restriction. The problem is finding a cash machine with sufficient funds.
To this end yesterday, I carried out a simple experiment at a branch of the Attica Bank.
First my translator put her Greek bank card into the cash machine and asked for 100 euros. The machine’s response was immediate: ‘You have exceeded the daily limit.’
Then I put my British bank card in the machine and asked for the same amount. I got it, without electronic demur.
The Greeks are now second-class financial citizens in their own country.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-1-1billion-loan-deadline.html#ixzz3eYdAJk2n
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