Crisis-hit Greeks moved €16 bn abroad

Greeks have moved at least €16 billion in funds to foreign banks in the last two years, about a third of which went to Britain, the Finance Minister said yesterday.

Evangelos Venizelos said that overall, depositors had withdrawn €65 billion from Greek banks since 2009 when the country began a tailspin into its worst economic crisis in decades.

“Of that total, 16 billion has been legally taken abroad,” Mr Venizelos told Parliament. “Less than 10 per cent has gone to Switzerland, and 32 per cent has gone to Britain.”

Mr Venizelos was defending a government decision to support Greek banks, which received €5 billion in state aid under a 2008 support plan in exchange for shares and more than €120 billion overall in state guarantees.

They are also to receive another €40 billion under a eurozone bailout deal which officials have been labouring on for weeks.

Details of that deal are expected to be worked out by next week.

“The basic elements of the deal are ready,” government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said yesterday.

The money will help banks recover from a major writedown in the value of Greek sovereign bonds that they own.

Private-sector creditors holding about €200 billion worth of Greek bonds –now vastly undervalued after successive downgrades – are being asked to accept a writedown in value of 70 per cent or more to help Greece meet its challenging repayment schedule.