Greek Banks Have Soft Reopening On Monday

Amid the continuing saga of Greece and its negotiations with creditors, the nation’s banks are slated to reopen on Monday (July 20) after three weeks of a government-mandated shutdown.

Restrictions on cash withdrawals, which have been in place since the bank holiday began, will remain in place, the Associated Press reported Saturday (July 18).

The Greek government mandated that the daily cash withdrawal limit will be kept at €60, and now there is also a weekly limit of €420. But in a slight wrinkle, there is a rollover effect in place. For those who “skip” a day — they do not withdraw cash on a given day — they are then able to take out €120 the next day. The rollover effect can extend until the weekly €420 ceiling is reached.

Yet bank customers still remain unable to cash checks and can opt only to deposit them into their accounts. In addition, Greeks cannot get cash from abroad with cash or credit cards but can only make purchases. There are also mandates governing the opening of new accounts or the reactivation of dormant ones, the AP noted.

Income tax return deadlines have also been pushed back by a month to Aug. 26.

As had been widely reported, Greece had shuttered its banks at the end of last month, a measure calculated to short-circuit a bank run in the wake of a refusal on the part of the European Central Bank to increase emergency funding to the country. There’s been an agreement passed as of last week by the Greek government to move towards a third bailout. And, in turn, the ECB boosted emergency funding to be given to the Greek banks. The Greek Parliament is scheduled to vote on austerity measures as early as Wednesday (July 22).



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