The Greek government says tourists staying in Greece and anyone with a credit card issued in a foreign country will not be affected by the measures to limit bank withdrawals newly imposed by the government.
Tourists staying in Greece and anyone with a credit card issued in a foreign country will not be affected by measures to limit bank withdrawals newly imposed by the Greek government, it said in a statement late Sunday night (Jun 28).
The statement informed “anyone visiting or about to visit Greece” that the capital control measures announced a few hours earlier “do not apply to those wishing to make transactions and withdrawals with a credit card issued in their home country”.
Early Sunday evening, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced the temporary closure of banks and the introduction of capital controls, but no official clarification was given on the expected duration of the closure or the imposition of a daily limit on bank withdrawals from ATMs.
Greek media had forecast a daily withdrawal limit of €60 (US$66) per person, with ATMs closed on Monday and transactions resuming on Tuesday, and predicted banks would remain shut until the week following a referendum planned for July 5.
Several European countries, primarily Germany and Britain, on Sunday advised their nationals bound for Greece to bring enough cash to cope with the unexpected. Many cash machines were dry on Sunday in Greece after customers queued up in front of the machines for hours to withdraw their money.
The radical capital control measures were imposed to protect the banking system from the threat of mass panic at the prospect of a possible default by Greece and the impact of the referendum announcement on negotiations with creditors.
