Greece crisis affects Georgian citizens
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, July 1
Ambassador of Georgia in Greece, Josif Nanobashvili, reports transfers to Greece from abroad are halted.
Nanobashvili says that due to the current crises in Greece, the banks are closed before the referendum will be held on July 6, 2015.
The ambassador explained that Greek citizens are entitled to take out only 60 Euros per day from ATMs. Yet the limitation does not apply to foreign citizens and holders of foreign bank cards.
“Inside country transfers and cashless payments are unlimited, but transfers abroad are absolutely limited. We are waiting for the results of the referendum of July 5. I hope that this kind of crisis which is associated with the closure of banks, will be removed next week and ultimately mutually beneficial agreement will be achieved,” he stated.
Nanobashvili added that for Georgian citizens, the Georgian Embassy and consulates continue to work normally in Athens and Thessaloniki and they are doing their best to help the citizens of Georgia.
“Services of bank transfers, obviously, are suspended but receptions in consulates are working as usual and they will do their best to serve our citizens within their competence,” said Nanobashvili.
Also, the Georgian Embassy in Greece stated that citizens of Georgia will be able to pay for consulate services in cash payment, in order not to have problems in using credit cards.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia says that this benefit will work until the economic problems are eliminated in Greece.
Georgians who live in Greece said that they have found themselves unable to receive their salaries, IPN says.
Many of them said that they have not received their wages for a month and employers promise them to reimburse salaries gradually. They have fears that current crises may leave them without jobs.
Those who do not have Greek citizenship are afraid to go outside.
It should be noted that on June 29, Greece closed all its banks and appeared increasingly likely to miss a critical debt payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ˆ1.6billion which deadline ends June 30, potentially setting off a default that could lead to the country's exit from the euro zone.
The Greek population is in panic due to the developments that occurred in the country. There were queues near banks and ATMs last week as people wanted to get their money back. Therefore, the Greek government has decided to shut banks down for a week. Talks between Greece and its creditors broke down last week, leading to Greek banks having to shut this week.
EU leaders have warned that a rejection of the proposals would mean Greece leaving the Euro zone.
