Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday evening said a process of loosening still imposed capital controls in the country is “constant”, and that gradual measures are being taken to “liberalize” sector.
Capital controls were imposed by Tsakalotos’ government late last June after the declaration of a snap referendum on creditors’ terms at the time. The anniversary of the controversial referendum, in fact, is Tuesday.
The British-trained and raised Tsakalotos spoke to the state-run television broadcaster, where he said “people must believe that a good (bank) recapitalization took place, that banks are stable, and that the proper measures are being taken … If people start returning their money to the banks, then capital controls will be lifted,” he estimated.
Tsakalotos said a measure excluding capital imported into Greece for investments will be tabled next week, with more efforts to loosen the unprecedented restriction ahead of autumn’s second review of the Greek program. Nevertheless, he said a complete lifting of the capital controls will come after the second review, without giving a specific timetable.
On another front, he assessed that a new loan by the ESM to Greece offers even lower interest rates and a longer repayment period, something he termed as “practically debt restructuring”, given that a portion goes into cutting the previous debt load.
