Crisis-Hit Greeks Moved 16 Billion Euros Abroad
Greeks have moved at least 16 billion euros ($21 billion) in funds to foreign banks in the last two years, about a third of which went to Britain, the finance minister said on Friday.
Evangelos Venizelos said that overall, depositors had withdrawn 65 billion euros from Greek banks since 2009 when the country began a tailspin into its worst economic crisis in decades.
"Of that total, 16 billion has been legally taken abroad," Venizelos told parliament.
"Less than 10 percent has gone to Switzerland, and 32 percent has gone to Britain," he said.
Venizelos was defending a government decision to support Greek banks, which received five billion euros in state aid under a 2008 support plan in exchange for shares, and more than 120 billion euros overall in state guarantees.
They are also to receive another 40 billion euros under a Eurozone bailout deal which officials have been laboring on for weeks.
Details of that deal are expected to be worked out by next week.
"The basic elements of the deal are ready," government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Real FM radio on Friday.
The money will help banks recover from a major write-down in the value of Greek sovereign bonds that they own.
Private-sector creditors holding about 200 billion euros worth of Greek bonds -- now vastly undervalued after successive downgrades -- are being asked to accept a write-down in value of 70 percent or more to help Greece meet its challenging repayment schedule.
Source: Agence France Presse
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