The Greek government issued a decree that forces local governments to transfer cash balances to the central bank, as debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and month-end salary payments come due.
“Central government entities are obliged to deposit their cash reserves and transfer their term deposit funds to their accounts at the Bank of Greece,” the decree, issued Monday on a government website, said. The “regulation is submitted due to extremely urgent and unforeseen needs.”
The move to effectively confiscate cash reserves currently held in commercial banks and transfer them to the central bank could raise about 2 billion euros (US$2.15 billion), two people familiar with the issue said. The cash can then be used to meet obligations such as the repayment of a 770 million-euro tranche owed to the IMF on May 12, the people said.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to Treasury & Risk, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited Treasury & Risk content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
- Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world case studies, and other critical content
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
