Lifting of capital controls signals return to normalcy

In what is seen as a move symbolizing Greece's return to normalcy, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Monday announced the full lifting of capital controls, earlier than the government had initially envisaged.
"Capital controls are as of today a thing of the past," Mitsotakis declared in Parliament, adding that the restrictions had been imposed in June 2015 as a result of SYRIZA-led government policies that resulted in the flight of millions of euros from bank deposits.

Stressing that "a four-year cycle of insecurity" has come to an end, he said a "new cycle of optimism has begun for the economy and the banking system" and added that since his center-right New Democracy party was elected in July "faith has been restored in the Greek economy and banking system."
For his part, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras lamented the capital controls as "a destabilizing...