By:
mryash
on 2:47 AM
by Christos Ziotis and Paul Tugwell
Greece will shut its banks Monday to avert a financial collapse after the European Central Bank froze emergency loans to the nation’s lenders.
Piraeus Bank SA Chief Executive Officer Anthimos Thomopoulos disclosed the decision to reporters after a meeting of the government’s financial-stability panel on Sunday.
As he left the same session, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said an announcement would be made after a Cabinet meeting due to start imminently in Athens.
Banks will remain shut until at least after a July 5 referendum called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on whether to accept austerity in exchange for a European bailout, Kathemerini newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.
