{"id":136003,"date":"2015-07-20T05:32:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T05:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=136003"},"modified":"2015-07-20T05:32:48","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T05:32:48","slug":"greek-banks-to-reopen-with-controls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=136003","title":{"rendered":"Greek banks to reopen with controls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greek banks are set to reopen after three weeks of closures sparked by the deadlock over the country’s debt.<\/p>\n

Athens reached agreement with its international creditors last week, in a cash-for-reforms deal that helped Greece avoid exiting the eurozone.<\/p>\n

But several restrictions remain in place, and Greeks also face price rises with an increase in Value Added Tax.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Germany has said it is prepared to consider further debt concessions to Greece.<\/p>\n

Queues at ATMs have been a feature of life in Greece for weeks, with people waiting in line each day to withdraw a maximum of \u20ac60 (\u00a341) a day, a restriction imposed amid fears of a run on banks.<\/p>\n

From Monday, the daily limit becomes a weekly one, capped at \u20ac420 (\u00a3291), meaning Greeks will not have to queue every day.<\/p>\n

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Greece’s recession<\/strong><\/p>\n

While banks throwing opening their doors marks the return of some normality to the Greek economy, long-term problems remain.<\/p>\n

Unemployment is stubbornly high, and as this chart shows, Greece’s recession is comparable to one of history’s most famous economic crashes.<\/p>\n

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But a block on transfers to foreign banks and a ban on cashing cheques remain in place.<\/p>\n

Greeks will also pay more on a range of goods and services, including taxis and restaurants, with VAT rising from 13% to 23%.<\/p>\n

The VAT rise was among a package of reforms demanded by Greece’s creditors to open talks on the proposed \u20ac86bn (\u00a360bn) bailout.<\/p>\n

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Greeks and tourists will have to pay more in restaurants, with a VAT rise imposed by creditors coming in<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Greek government has a new look after a reshuffle replaced ministers opposing the deal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Members of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s party rebelled against the austerity measures demanded by creditors when it was voted through parliament,<\/p>\n

But it paved the way for Greece to receive a bridging loan, which enables the reopening of the banks and for Athens to repay debts to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund due on Monday.<\/p>\n

German row<\/p>\n

Both Greece and the IMF, have been arguing for a restructuring of its \u20ac320bn debt, saying its current position is “unsustainable”.<\/p>\n

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, ruled out a “a classic haircut” – a markdown of Greece’s debts.<\/p>\n

But she told ARD TV other forms of relief, such as extending maturities or slashing interest rates, could be considered once the details of the latest programme are worked out.<\/p>\n

She also played down reports of a row with her Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble, who suggested in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine he would rather resign than defend something he did not believe in.<\/p>\n

“The finance minister will, like me, conduct these negotiations and I can only say that no one came to me and asked to be relieved,” said Ms Merkel when asked about the suggestion.<\/p>\n

Germany, which is the largest contributor to Greek rescue funds, has taken a tough line on Greece.<\/p>\n

At one point in the fraught talks over the bailout Mr Schaeuble suggested Greece could temporarily exit the eurozone while it stabilises its economy.<\/p>\n

Mr Tsipras, who has reshuffled his cabinet to replace rebellious ministers, has another set of reforms to push through parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a damning assessment, his former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told the BBC the economic programme imposed on Greece was “going to fail”.<\/p>\n

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–<\/b><\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greek banks are set to reopen after three weeks of closures sparked by the deadlock over the country’s debt. Athens reached agreement with its international creditors last week, in a cash-for-reforms deal that helped Greece avoid exiting the eurozone. But several restrictions remain in place, and Greeks also face price rises with an increase in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":136004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-136003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/136004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}