Yannis Stournaras

The meeting between Bank of Greece (BoG) governor Yannis Stournaras and European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis took place on Tuesday.

Stournaras and Dombrovskis underlined that the bank recapitalizations need to be completed by the end of the year.

European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Greek government’s top finance ministers that Greece “has no time to lose” in carrying out reforms that international creditors have demanded in exchange for bailout funds. Visiting Athens, he said that action needs to be taken immediately so that reforms can bring growth.

The Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis will visit Athens on October 27-28 and have a series of meetings.

According to the program announced by European Commission Representation in Greece, Mr. Dombrovskis will meet with Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis on Monday, at 09:30 and with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, at 10:30.

A Bank of Greece official on Tuesday was quoted as saying that no new mergers of embattled Greek systemic banks is foreseen, speaking after a meeting between BoG Gov. Yannis Stournaras and caretaker FinMin Giorgos Houliarakis.

The ‘Troika’ turned ‘Quartet’ representatives met with the governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras Friday, after a 6-hour long talk with Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and his colleague Minister of Finance Giorgos Stathakis.

A new report published by the General Confederation of Greek Workers Union (GSEE) says 4 in 10 Greeks workers are living in total poverty. The findings of the report were sent to Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and to the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras.

It’s a plot worthy of “Col. Stierlitz”, the fictional Soviet “James Bond” imbedded deep within Nazi Germany’s leadership during WWII, yet according to the Financial Times, ruling SYRIZA party’s far-left wing contemplated a “covert plan” to flush Greece out of the common currency and back to the feeble drachma of old.

The radical leftist SYRIZA government took a major step on Friday in loosening capital controls, allowing bank transfers abroad by Greece-based businesses by up to 50,000 euros a day.

Bank of Greece gov. Yannis Stournaras added that conditions for businesses are improving and authorities aim to resolve pending issues within the next 10 days.

“If necessary, we will issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU’s, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago,” was the quote attributed to FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Sunday, after the victorious “no” vote.

The now embattled Tsipras government has decided to declare a bank holiday … all of next week!
Under that decision, the next open day for banks will be Monday, July 6, a day after an unprecedented call for a referendum.