Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calls for “patience and composure” over the coming days fell on mostly deaf ears following the dramatic developments in the Greek economy over the last 48 hours. The late-night announcement for a referendum on July 5 gave way Sunday with a new announcement that banks would remain closed until July 6 and provisions for a daily ceiling to withdrawals set at 60 euros.
This unprecedented, for post-war Europe, situation caused citizens to rush to ATM machines, supermarkets and gas stations!
Though pensions and public sector wages will be paid, a number of elderly people are in limbo as they only have bank books rather than bank/debit cards. Some of the pensioners who poured onto the streets last week protesting against proposed pension slashes are now desperately waiting outside bank entrances to spot a bank employee who will tell them how they will manage to get by without money. National Bank announced that it would open 70 branches of the Greek National Bank to serve pensioners without credit cards. Of course, if you divide 70 branches by the … tens of thousands of elderly pensioners without a card, then a somewhat chaotic image emerges.
Hellenic Petroleum S.A. announced on Sunday that there is enough fuel to cover the country’s needs over the next few months, but panic sent people rushing, emptying short-term fuel supplies. There have been fears expressed that the greater Athens area will run out of fuel supplies by Monday. Even so, Sunday’s announcement by state-appointed head of Hellenic Petroleum Grigoris Stergioulis stressed that supplies were adequate to meet demands. He stressed that his company’s refineries were operating normally to supply the needs of the market and that the refinery had fuel reserves to cover several months, while the supply of crude oil to the refineries was assured.
Proto Thema contacted the relevant ministry but received no response regarding the fears that have been expressed. by providers of supplies running out and bank limits making it impossible for new supplies that require bank transactions.
ATM
The daily Ethnos newspaper reports that 2,191 ATMs from a total of 5,449 around the country were emptied over the last 48 hours, with citizens driving kilometers away to find ATMs that still spit out money.
