In what seems like a strange turn of events, the Greek government found the money to repay the roughly 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) it owed to the International Monetary (IMF).
“Greece is therefore no longer in arrears to the IMF,” said Gerry Rice, director of communications at the IMF in a statement on Monday.
An ECB spokesperson reported, “The ECB confirms it has been repaid.”
At the same time, Rice repeated its promise to help Greece step out of its financial crisis saying, “As we have said, the Fund stands ready to continue assisting Greece in its efforts to return to financial stability and growth.”
Customers Flock to Banks
Banks reopened Monday following Athens acceptance of the debt rescue package offered by the ECB just days ago. To cover the money needed to pay its debts, and in keeping with its side of the three-year bailout package, Greece immediately raised taxes across the board on everything from sugar and coffee to cosmetics, transportation and even burials.
The Value-added tax (VAT) jumped up from 13 percent to 23 percent on a wide range of goods and services, although the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 percent to 6.0 percent.
After a three-week closure, banks were still offering only a limited amount of services which included a ban on most transfers to foreign banks, but the daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65) which had been imposed when the crisis began in earnest, has been relaxed.
