{"id":3303,"date":"2015-06-28T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T12:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/greece-tries-to-stanch-bank-run-ahead-of-looming-default\/3303\/"},"modified":"2015-06-28T04:41:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-28T12:41:00","slug":"greece-tries-to-stanch-bank-run-ahead-of-looming-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/greece-tries-to-stanch-bank-run-ahead-of-looming-default\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece Tries To Stanch Bank Run Ahead Of Looming Default"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Neuman<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
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A security worker brings money to a National Bank branch in Athens, Greece, on Sunday. Greeks have been withdrawing euros in anticipation of a possible default on the country’s debt payments early next week. Marko Djurica\/Reuters\/Landov<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Marko Djurica\/Reuters\/Landov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As Greeks rush to withdraw cash ahead of a looming default on the country’s international debt<\/a> payments and a possible exit from the Eurozone, Greece is considering closing its banks on Monday in an effort to stave off a total financial collapse.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tells the BBC that his government is weighing the option at an emergency meeting today.<\/p>\n

\n
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.@yanisvaroufakis<\/a> tells @BBCMarkMardell<\/a>: Greek Govt will be looking overnight at imposing capital controls & closing banks on Monday. #tw2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) June 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Germany’s Foreign Ministry has advised travelers to Greece to make sure they have enough euros on hand before they arrive in the country.<\/p>\n

The drama comes as the European Central Bank is in heated discussions about whether to extend Greece’s financial lifeline.<\/p>\n

As Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens for NPR, “Some European leaders say the Greek government closed the door on negotiations by calling a referendum. Others are pushing for a compromise to preserve the euro.”<\/p>\n

As The New York Times<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

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“The central bank’s 25-member governing council, convened by conference call, was discussing how and whether to extend an emergency line of credit \u2014 currently worth more than 85 billion euros, or $95 billion \u2014 that in recent weeks has kept Greek banks from collapsing.<\/p>\n

“Analysts say that without these funds, Greek banks would not have sufficient money to provide to panicky savers if they opened on Monday. Without a continued flow of money to consumers and businesses, Greece’s struggling economy would probably lapse deeper into recession.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Greeks began lining up at ATM machines on Saturday, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a nationwide referendum for July 5 on an international bailout for Athens \u2013 a move roundly criticized by Greece’s creditors as a delay tactic. The deadline for a 1.6 billion euro ($1.9 billion) payment to the International Monetary Fund is Tuesday. But Greece and its lenders have already walked away from the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

Reuters says that while some ATMs in Greece were spitting out their last euros, other machines were being replenished. It says a top Greek financial official urged people on Sunday to remain calm and not withdraw all their savings.<\/p>\n

Civil engineer Dimitris Kostoulas says he fears bank withdrawals will be limited on Monday. “I believe that everyone is nervous. Not only us. We’ll see what happens,” he tells NPR.<\/p>\n

“We are very very close to the edge. What was sometimes seen as scaremongering is something that could happen over the next few days,” economist Platon Tinios says.<\/p>\n

If Athens misses its payment, it would likely be forced out of the Eurozone and revert to its previous currency, the drachma. High inflation and years of financial instability would result.<\/p>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2015\/06\/28\/418276486\/greece-tries-to-stanch-bank-run-ahead-of-looming-default?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=business<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

A security worker brings money to a National Bank branch in Athens, Greece, on Sunday. Greeks have been withdrawing euros in anticipation of a possible default on the country’s debt payments early next week. Marko Djurica\/Reuters\/Landov<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Marko Djurica\/Reuters\/Landov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As Greeks rush to withdraw cash ahead of a looming default on the country’s international debt<\/a> payments and a possible exit from the Eurozone, Greece is considering closing its banks on Monday in an effort to stave off a total financial collapse.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tells the BBC that his government is weighing the option at an emergency meeting today.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

.@yanisvaroufakis<\/a> tells @BBCMarkMardell<\/a>: Greek Govt will be looking overnight at imposing capital controls & closing banks on Monday. #tw2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) June 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Germany’s Foreign Ministry has advised travelers to Greece to make sure they have enough euros on hand before they arrive in the country.<\/p>\n

The drama comes as the European Central Bank is in heated discussions about whether to extend Greece’s financial lifeline.<\/p>\n

As Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens for NPR, “Some European leaders say the Greek government closed the door on negotiations by calling a referendum. Others are pushing for a compromise to preserve the euro.”<\/p>\n

As The New York Times<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

“The central bank’s 25-member governing council, convened by conference call, was discussing how and whether to extend an emergency line of credit \u2014 currently worth more than 85 billion euros, or $95 billion \u2014 that in recent weeks has kept Greek banks from collapsing.<\/p>\n

“Analysts say that without these funds, Greek banks would not have sufficient money to provide to panicky savers if they opened on Monday. Without a continued flow of money to consumers and businesses, Greece’s struggling economy would probably lapse deeper into recession.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Greeks began lining up at ATM machines on Saturday, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a nationwide referendum for July 5 on an international bailout for Athens \u2013 a move roundly criticized by Greece’s creditors as a delay tactic. The deadline for a 1.6 billion euro ($1.9 billion) payment to the International Monetary Fund is Tuesday. But Greece and its lenders have already walked away from the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

Reuters says that while some ATMs in Greece were spitting out their last euros, other machines were being replenished. It says a top Greek financial official urged people on Sunday to remain calm and not withdraw all their savings.<\/p>\n

Civil engineer Dimitris Kostoulas says he fears bank withdrawals will be limited on Monday. “I believe that everyone is nervous. Not only us. We’ll see what happens,” he tells NPR.<\/p>\n

“We are very very close to the edge. What was sometimes seen as scaremongering is something that could happen over the next few days,” economist Platon Tinios says.<\/p>\n

If Athens misses its payment, it would likely be forced out of the Eurozone and revert to its previous currency, the drachma. High inflation and years of financial instability would result.<\/p>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}