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Roundup: All Greek banks will reopen Monday: Deputy FinMin

Xinhua, July 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

All Greek banks will reopen next Monday after a three-week bank holiday, Greek Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said on Thursday in Athens.

"All banks will reopen and citizens will be able to make more transactions," Mardas told Greek national television broadcaster ERT.

The Greek official said that businesses will be facilitated regarding payment of checks for example, "but for citizens the 60 euro daily limit in cash withdrawals remains."

However, Greeks will no longer have to queue in front of ATMs every day to withdraw the 60 euros, but will have the opportunity to "carry over" their withdrawal allowance into the next days.

For example, if someone does not withdraw any money on one day, they will be able to withdraw up to 120 euros on the following day, Mardas explained.

The statement was made a few hours after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) limit for Greece's banking sector by 900 million euros after a three-week "freeze."

The positive signal from ECB came earlier on Thursday following the achievement of a debt deal between Greece and other euro zone countries on Monday on the framework of a third bailout to keep the country afloat and in the euro.

Since June 29 after the ECB freezed the flow of ELA funding amidst an impasse in negotiations for the debt deal, all bank branches in Greece have shut down.

Only 1,000 branches have been exempted to serve pensioners and unemployed who do not have debit cards to withdraw money from ATMs.

Shortly before Mardas' interview on Thursday evening, the Finance Ministry had announced that the bank holiday was extended once again until Sunday.

Mardas did not clarify how long the capital controls will last. Economy Minister Yorgos Stathakis told another Greek television channel a few days ago that capital controls could continue for at least two more months.

Financial experts also expected the government to not lift capital controls soon to avert a bank run that would cause the collapse of the banking system. Endit