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Sunday, May. 20, 2012 |  Syndicate content

Crisis-hit Greeks 'have moved 16 bn euros abroad'

Page last updated at 04:51 GMT, Friday, February 3, 2012 - 09:51 EST

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AFP:

Venizelos said that overall, depositors had withdrawn 65 billion euros from Greek banks since 2009
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Greeks have moved at least 16 billion euros ($21 billion) in funds to foreign banks in the last two years, about a third of which went to Britain, the finance minister said on Friday.

Evangelos Venizelos said that overall, depositors had withdrawn 65 billion euros from Greek banks since 2009 when the country began a tailspin into its worst economic crisis in decades.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

"Less than 10 percent has gone to Switzerland, and 32 percent has gone to Britain," he said.

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

Read the whole story: AFP

Greece-World News