Greek banks to stay closed until Wednesday: Official

Greek banks will remain closed until Wednesday with limits on daily withdrawals unchanged, the state news agency reported today, citing officials.

Athens: Greek banks will remain closed until Wednesday with limits on daily withdrawals unchanged, the state news agency reported today, citing officials.

Further developments will depend on decisions by the European Central Bank, whose board of governors were holding a conference call today to decide whether to maintain its lifeline to Greek banks, the officials added.

The association of Greek banks had earlier held a meeting with junior finance minister Dimitris Mardas.
Capital controls were enacted on June 28, limiting ATM withdrawals by Greeks to 60 euros (USD 67) per account daily after a referendum on austerity sparked a run on deposits.

The Bank of Greece has requested an increase in emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) and that request was the subject of the ECB meeting.

Financial markets and analysts were waiting to learn whether the ECB's governing council would continue to provide emergency liquidity to Greek banks and keep the economy afloat after 61 percent of Greeks voted against further austerity measures in yesterday's plebiscite.

ELA is currently the only source of financing for Greek banks, and therefore the Greek economy. But with Greece's bailout programme now officially expired and in the absence of any new programme, the conditions for its continuation are no longer met.

But analysts believe the ECB will not want to be the one to pull the plug on Greece and force the country out of the single currency.

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