Greek debt crisis: Greece begins repaying ECB and IMF as banks reopen - as it happened
Greece's bank branches are open for the first time in three weeks, but capital controls are still in place
- Greece gets a7bn bridge loan, and spends it
- Closing summary: A step back to normality
- No panic as banks re-open after three weeks
- Photos: Queues in Thessaloniki and Athens
6.06pm BST
Our main story tonight: Greece has taken a step back to normality after its banks reopened following three weeks of closures and receipt of a a7.2bn (5bn) loan, with almost all of it spent on repaying debts.
Related: Greece reopens banks and pays off some debt in first steps towards normality
5.43pm BST
On a day when the Greek banks opened their doors for the first time inthree weeks, the debate about future funding needs seems far away.But our economics correspondent Phillip Inman asks what lies ahead for Greece's battered financial sector.
He writes:
Plenty of dangers lie in wait for Greek banks. Already short of cash, they may need lots more when stress tests of their solvency are carried out in a month or two.
And unable to access the international money markets, they will be in a similar position to the Greek god Telephus, who was wounded by Achilles and yet needed Achilles to return as a doctor before he could be healed. The Greek banks, stripped of many of their assets by the European Central Bank, will need the ECB to make a re-appearance in Athens to aid their recovery...
Related: Greek banks face stress tests at the worst time
5.27pm BST
European stock markets have closed higher as worries about Greece recede.
The main share indices have not managed to hold on to all their early gains but are still well within positive territory.
Gold has struggled against a backdrop of global economic recovery and a strengthening dollar, and the recent sell-off appears to have come on the back of the Chinese central bank reporting its gold holdings, which disappointed analyst's expectations.
The yellow metal is traditionally seen as a store of value and a protection policy against catastrophe, both attractive features in recent years given the depth of the financial crisis and the devaluation of fiat currencies by central bankers cranking the printing presses. However those worries have receded, and with them so has the gold price."
Related: Gold falls to five-year low as fears ease over Greece
4.44pm BST
Helena Smith has also been in the vaults of the Bank of Greece talking to Ioannis Zafeiropoulos, who has oversight of some 7,500 safety deposit boxes - held behind iron bars and huge steel doors. She reports:
An official at the bank for the past 31 years,Zafeiropoulos had spent 10 days drawing up a contingency plan. His worry: that once the banks reopened, the vaults might be stormed by savers fearing the country's enforced ejection from the euro zone.
"How was I going to cope when no more than four people can be in a vault at the same time?" he asked. "I had to devise a plan but instead of 3,000 people turning up as I had thought we've had less than a hundred. We've been joking about how disappointing it's been."
4.32pm BST
The reopening of Greek banks may have been highly symbolic for the crisis-hit country's economy but in many ways today has defied expectations. Our correspondent Helena Smith reports from Athens.
The opening of Greek banks on Monday was not without symbolism. After 21 days of being firmly closed, the sight of their shutters going up was uplifting both for Greeks and their debt-stricken economy - an economy that with the added restriction of capital controls has suffered immeasurable damage in the meantime.
"What economy can work without its banks?" asked Spyros Kouroumbiotis, a pensioner in the queue at the Bank of Greece waiting to pay his taxes. "As an economist I still help family with their business and I can tell you it's been a huge ordeal. Exports have stopped, imports have stopped, nothing has worked because it's been impossible to pay anyone."
3.54pm BST
Sticking with the IMF, the fund has just announced the successor to retiring chief economist Olivier Blanchard. Professor Maurice Obstfeld takes over the role of economic counsellor and director of the IMF's research department in September, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde announces.
Describing Blanchard's successor, the IMF says: "A Professor of Economics (and former Chair of the Department of Economics) at the University of California, Berkeley, Obstfeld has advised many governments and consulted at central banks all over the world. He is currently serving as a member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, on leave from Berkeley."
"I am thrilled to have Maurice join us at the Fund. His outstanding academic credentials and extensive international experience make him exceptionally well placed to provide intellectual leadership to the IMF at this important juncture. He is known around the globe for his work on international economics and is considered one of the most influential macroeconomists in the world."
"The position of Economic Counsellor is of fundamental importance to the IMF's ability to provide its global membership with the best possible independent analysis and policy advice. I am confident that we have found an exceptional candidate in Maurice to take this work forward."
Maurice Obstfeld,the IMF's new chief economist, is an expert of optimal currency areas.His 2013 views on the eurozone pic.twitter.com/PEghuNUOjL
3.38pm BST
Further to that statement from the IMF on Greece no longer being in arrears to the Fund, as a refresher when the country missed a a1.6bn payment on 30 June it became the first developed country to default to the IMF. It joined a club that includes Zimbabwe, Somalia and Sudan, which have all fallen into arrears with the fund.
3.27pm BST
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just issued a brief statement confirming Greece has repaid its arrears to the fund, as had been expected after Greece got a bridging loan to cover its most pressing debts.
Gerry Rice, the IMF's director of communications says:
"I can confirm that Greece today repaid the totality of its arrears to the IMF, equivalent to SDR 1.6 billion (about a2.0bn). Greece is therefore no longer in arrears to the IMF.
"As we have said, the Fund stands ready to continue assisting Greece in its efforts to return to financial stability and growth."
3.06pm BST
Back to the main events in the eurozone now and our reporter in Brussels, Jennifer Rankin, has been looking at Greece's 'now you see it, now you don't' bridging loan.
The Greek money merry-go-round carries on in full swing as Athens received a a7.2bn (5bn) loan from the EU and immediately spent almost all of it on repaying debts.
Greek officials confirmed on Monday they had begun paying back international lenders, not long after the emergency bridging loan arrived in the Greek government's bank account.
Related: Greece pays off some debt as emergency loan arrives in Athens
Just realised this is my fifth week in Brussels, but only the first w/o a eurogroup.
2.52pm BST
Regular readers of this blog will have become very familiar with the Financial Times' excellent reporters in the field who have covered the Greek crisis tirelessly in recent months. News is just breaking that their pink paper could be moving to new owners.
Bloomberg reports that owner of the FT, UK-listed Pearson, is "exploring a sale of the Financial Times after receiving interest from potential buyers, according to people familiar with the matter."
For an extra couple million, I'll throw in my troika report collection https://t.co/LlV4b60X3g
2.20pm BST
Turning to the UK briefly, the wave of rate hike remarks from Bank of England policymakers last week, have kept the pound strong today.
After BoE governor Mark Carney signalled that the first rise in interest rates since the global financial crash could take place around the turn of the year, traders have been re-positioning themselves to price in the chances of a hike before 2016.
1.30pm BST
A quick recap.
Bank branches across Greece have reopened today, as the financial restrictions that have constrained the country for the last three weeks are relaxed, a little, following last week's bailout deal.
12.24pm BST
Greece's finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, has said farewell to one deputy this lunchtime, and welcomed another.
12.02pm BST
Here's a technical explanation of how Greece's new bridge loan will work (thanks to Katy Lee of AFP)
European Commission confirms $7.16 bn loan paid to Greece so they can now pay ECB & IMF (see gif for explanation) pic.twitter.com/3xxPq6pU1F
11.44am BST
The EC's chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, is fielding a few questions on Greece:
Asked about troika v institutions, commission spokesman says he wouldn't like "to become lost in terminology". #Greece
@Elbarbie Just referendums, I guess
11.33am BST
Greece won't have much time to enjoy the a7bn bridge loan organised by the European Union last week.
EU officials have just announced that this financing has been sent to Athens today, following several days of work by Brussels officials.
The a7.16bn bridge loan just sent to #Greece, says @Mina_Andreeva
Commission confirms #Greece has received a7.2 bn bridge loan. Now money can go straight out the door to repay @ecb and other creditors.
11.06am BST
But while shares rally, the price of gold has hit its lowest level since early 2010:
Related: Gold falls to five-year low as fears ease over Greece
11.04am BST
Europe's stock markets are all up this morning, as worries over Greece recede.
The Italian FTSE MIB is leading the way, up 1.5%, followed by Spain, France and Germany:
After a weekend (mercifully) free of big Eurozone drama, the semblance of normality returned this morning as the Greek banks opened for the first time in 3 weeks.
But there is a reason why these re-openings merely provide a surface level simulation of a working economy, not the real thing; capital controls remain in place, with the Greek public allowed only a420 a week (a marginal adjustment of the previous a60 a day) alongside a host of other restrictions.
I blame #British weather for light newsflow, #TheOpen continues on Mon for first time since 1988, traders watching instead of trading #Golf
10.44am BST
Greece's factories was struggling even before capital controls were imposed at the end of June, new data shows.
Turnover across the industrial sector shrank by 4.2% year-on year in May, according to stats body Elstat.
9.57am BST
Quote of the Day goes to Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist.
""it didn't even occur to me that they would be prepared to make a stand without having done any contingency planning ...amazingly - they thought they could simply demand better terms without having any backup plan. So certainly this is a shock. But, you know, in some sense, it's hopeless in any case. "it's not as if the terms that they were being offered before were feasible. I mean, the new terms are even worse, but the terms they were being offered before were still not going to work. So I, you know, I may have overestimated the competence of the Greek government."
Paul Krugman on CNN: "I may have overestimated the competence of the Greek government" http://t.co/fwE2YZHpLU
9.33am BST
The re-opening of Greece's banks appears to be operating smoothly, judging by this photo from a National Bank branch in Athens:
9.17am BST
Today's Greek VAT rise is the third since the country's austerity programme began, five years ago:
VAT on basic foodstuffs 2005: 8% 2006: 9% 2010: 11% 2011: 13% 2015: 23% Sharing the burden fairly & proportionately. https://t.co/zqlGhVSuGh
9.08am BST
Greek consumers are facing higher prices today, as the sales tax hike demanded by its creditors is applied.
Sweeping VAT changes mean some food stuffs, restaurant meals and education services cost more. And even death (life's other certainty alongside those taxes) will be more expensive:
The VAT rose from 13% to 23%, making some meats, cooking oils other than olive oil, cocoa, vinegar, salt, flowers, firewood, fertilizer, insecticides, sanitary towels and other basics all more expensive.
Services hit by the new VAT increases include restaurants and cafes, funeral parlors, taxis, cramming and tutorial schools very popular with Greek students seeking to make up for the deficiencies of the school system language institutes and computer learning centers. Public transport fares are expected to rise early next month.
8.47am BST
Bloomberg is reporting that Greece has spent almost all of the a7bn bridge loan hammered out by the eurozone on Friday.
*GREECE SAID TO GIVE PAYMENT ORDER FOR EU 6.8BN TO CREDITORS, COVERS ECB, IMF, CENTRAL BANKS: FIN MIN OFFICIAL (Bloomberg)
A bridge financing that'd be quickly spent. *GREECE SAID TO GIVE ORDER FOR EU6.8 BLN PAYMENTS TO CREDITORS; ECB, IMF, CEN BANK
8.45am BST
Customers at this National Bank branch in Athens received little numbered tickets to allocate places in the queue:
8.37am BST
Across central Athens, customers waited patiently at this Alpha Bank branch:
8.31am BST
Although Greece's banks are reopening, customers will find that many services are still off limits.
Macropolis, the news and analysis site, has compiled a list of the current restrictions, on top of the a420/week limit on cash withdrawals.
Greek banks open again after 3 weeks but there's really not that much you can do inside them https://t.co/cKemBkhvXE #Greece #euro
8.16am BST
After months of drama, the financial markets are now more relaxed about Greece, according to David Cumming, head of UK equities at Standard Life Investments.
He told Radio 4's Today Programme that:
"The key question is: is the euro going to break up because of the Greek crisis, and the answer is no it isn't. The second issue is when are we going to stop talking about it because it's corrosive at the margin for business confidence in Europe. The answer is relatively soon.
From a market perspective it [Greece] has become less of an issue".
8.09am BST
Queues also formed outside National Bank branches in Athens, but it all looks calm:
8.01am BST
Customers queued outside this National Bank branch in Thessaloniki, Greece's second city, this morning, as it reopened for the first time since late June:
7.56am BST
The head of Greece's banking association, Louka Katseli, hopes that Greeks will put money back into their accounts:
She told Skai television yesterday:
"Tomorrow when the banks reopen and normality is restored, let's all help our economy.
If we take our money out of chests and from our homes - where they are not safe in any case - and we deposit them in the banks, we will strengthen the liquidity of the economy,"
7.51am BST
Adea Guillot, journalist with Le Monde, is tweeting from a bank branch in Athens:
Yiannis,agent de securite ds une banque d'Athenes: tout se passe tres bien. Les gens sont calmes et philosophes. pic.twitter.com/UtRlFxqy15
7.48am BST
Traders on the Greek stock market must be itching to get back to work after their three week delay. But they'll have to be patient.
The Athens exchange will remain closed today, even though Greece's banks are opening up to customers right now.
Others worked part time, then went to the beach.
7.38am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the Greek debt crisis.
Across Greece, banks are reopening after a three-week hiatus. Customers are flocking to their local branches for the first time since Alexis Tsipras's fateful decision to call a referendum on the country's bailout terms.
Greek banks to reopen for first time in 3 weeks. But long queues at ATM's remain as CNBC shows http://t.co/GzCWxQxQ1d pic.twitter.com/PVD8tFb3j3
Bank customers will still not be able to cash checks, only deposit them into their accounts, and will not be able to get cash abroad with their credit or cash cards, only make purchases.
There are also restrictions on opening new accounts or activating dormant ones.
Related: Greek banks start to reopen for first time in three weeks
Greece has reached the deadline it couldn't afford to miss, for a bill it can finally afford to pay.
Related: Alexis Tsipras reshuffles cabinet to get rid of bailout dissidents
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