Athens- Capital controls imposed on Greece by the EU might be eased or lifted by the end of the year according to National Bank of Greece (NBG) president, Louka Katseli.
The controls meant Greeks could only withdraw limited funds from their savings accounts, a measure which affected trade and commerce; not to mention day-to-day living for most Greeks and as a consequence many avoided depositing money into Greek banks.
Katseli stated that fear is the reason citizens do not bring their money back to the banks, adding that it will take time until they trust their money to these institutions again.
Speaking to national broadcaster ERT late Saturday, she noted the main factor for a return to normality would depend on the stability of Greece at a political and financial level.
Referring to the lifting of the capital controls, she said she believed that most of the restrictions will be lifted by the end of the year. One of the conditions for the lifting of the capital controls was the completion of the review of the Greek programme, which has been achieved, said Katseli.
She also added that the large number of non-performing loans is not due to the fact that the people suddenly became bad-payers but due to the adverse changes of households and businesses’ economic conditions.
Katseli called on the lenders to go the banks and settle their loans, otherwise they may run the risk of being characterised as uncooperative.
