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Banks Reopen, Taxes Hiked as Greece Seeks to Reboot Economy

Banks Reopen, Taxes Hiked as Greece Seeks to Reboot Economy
folder_openGreece access_time8 years ago
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Local Editor

Greeks queued outside banks on Monday as they reopened three weeks after closing to stop the system collapsing, the first cautious sign of a return to normal after a deal to start talks on a new package of bailout reforms.

Banks Reopen, Taxes Hiked as Greece Seeks to Reboot Economy

Though, citizens woke up to widespread price hikes as part of a cash-for-reform deal with the country's creditors.

The bank shutdown since June 29 is estimated to have cost Greece's crisis-hit economy 3.0 billion euros [$3.3 billion] in market shortages and export disruption.

Capital controls including a block on key transfers to foreign banks and a ban on the opening of new accounts remain in force, although a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros [$65] had been relaxed.

Moreover, Louka Katseli, the head of Greece's bank association, said Greeks would now be able to withdraw a maximum of 300 euros at once until Friday, when a new weekly limit of 420 euros comes in force.

The government is meanwhile expected to make a 4.2 billion euro payment Monday to the European Central Bank [ECB], made possible by a short-term "bridge" loan of 7.16 billion euros granted by the European Union on Friday.

The loan will also allow the debt-crippled Greek government to make payments to the International Monetary Fund [IMF] outstanding since June.

Greece's left government last week agreed to tough reforms -- including tax hikes, an overhaul of the ailing pension system and privatizations it had previously opposed -- in exchange for a three-year bailout of up to 86 billion euros that it is hoped will stop it crashing out of the Eurozone.

Taxes went up in Greece on a wide range of goods and services on Monday -- everything from sugar and cocoa to taxis and funerals -- from 13 percent to 23 percent.

On the other hand, the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 percent to 6.0 percent.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

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