Greek bank run: Deposit withdrawals hit €3 billion in four days - media
Panicking savers in Greece have withdrawn over €3 billion in deposits from the country’s banks between June 15 and June 18, with a record €1 billion having left Greek banks on Thursday, banking sources told Reuters.
As the fears of Greece defaulting on its €316 billion debt and leaving the eurozone are escalating, people in Greece are rushing to take their savings out of banks. An estimated €200-€300 million a day was leaving the country prior to this week. Between October and April €30 billion left Greek banks, according to data from the Bank of Greece.
The panic accelerated Thursday ahead of the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg where European Finance Ministers and Greek officials were to discuss the ways Athens could deal with its international creditors. The meeting however did not show any feasible results.
READ MORE: Depositors withdraw €820mn in single day ahead of Eurogroup ‘crunch’ talks - media
On Monday, June 22, Greek banks might have to stay closed, when the EU summit takes place in Brussels, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). The summit will focus on Greece’s problem at the highest political level and is aimed to discuss ways of preventing the crisis from spreading within the EU.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Friday that a comprehensive Greek proposal for a cash-for-reforms deal to the euro zone group of finance ministers was not discussed, and that Europe's leaders had a duty to come up with a deal.
"Greek authorities presented a wide-ranging, comprehensive and credible proposal that can be the foundation of an agreement that not only concludes the current program but also addresses Greece's future funding needs. Regrettably, no discussion of our proposal took place within the Eurogroup," Varoufakis said in a statement.
READ MORE: Eurogroup, Greece say ‘crunch’ negotiations failed but still time for clutch deal
The central bank of Greece warned Wednesday that Athens was likely to leave the eurozone and possibly the EU without a deal with creditors.
Greece and the troika of creditors that includes the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission have been stuck in debt talks for more than 5 months. Greece is seeking to get the last €7.2 billion tranche of the second bailout, but the creditors insist Athens should present a solid reform plan showing the country will cut more of its spending. The new government in Greece led by Alexis Tsipras has maintained they won’t agree to a new era of austerity which dragged the economy into a crisis in 2010, when the first troika bailout was released.
