Greece Lifts Cash Withdrawal Restrictions

Bank account holders in Greece are now free to withdraw any amount of cash from ATM machines and banks, following a Finance Ministry announcement on Thursday.

Implemented in 2015 to prevent banks from collapsing, the capital controls limited cash withdrawals from Greek bank ATMs.

The finance ministry decision foresees:

-limitless cash withdrawals (from the current 5,000-euro-a-month limit)

-limitless withdrawals with credit and prepaid cards

-cash withdrawals of up to 5,000 euros can now be made at banks abroad, including withdrawals with credit or prepaid cards issued in Greece

-foreign currency transfer amounts for travel abroad have increased to 10,000 euros per trip from 3,000 euros

-for business transactions abroad, the amount is set at 100,000 euros (from 40,000 euros) daily for each transaction per customer.

-there are now no limits on outward capital flows of profits made from investments made in Greece

-checks and letters of guarantee can be paid in cash.

According to reports, despite efforts to return to normalcy, however, banks are still not seeing incoming cash flows with depositors reluctant or unable to boost their accounts particularly in view of increasing taxation, insurance contributions and household needs.