Attica governor Rena Dourou confirmed on Friday that all of the region’s cash reserves will be taken out of private banks and funnelled into a single BoG account, a decision taken by majority vote in a regional council this week.
Only Dourou’s grouping, which holds an absolute majority, voted in favor of the decision, raising a firestorm of protest by other councillors.
Dourou, a top leftist SYRIZA cadre, announced the decision amid worrying reports that the Greek government, led by a SYRIZA majority, is facing a looming cash crunch as it has failed to achieve, as yet, a coveted loan agreement extension. By putting the reserves into a Bank of Greece account, the central government acquires additional liquidity.
The Attica region’s reserves are in excess of 300 million euros, some 80 million will be in the specific account.