"The
daily limit (on money transfers) has been raised to 100,000
euros from 50,000 euros," central bank governor Yannis
Stournaras told reporters, adding that this covered almost 70
percent of requests.
Greek businesses have been hit by limits on transferring money
abroad to pay for imports of raw material and other items since
capital controls started on June 29, and have had to apply to a
special committee for permission to pay their foreign suppliers,
a time-consuming process.
Stournaras said conditions for businesses were improving and
authorities aimed to resolve pending issues in the next 10 days.
"As far as approvals are concerned, we are now very close to the
monthly imports the Greek economy was registering before the
crisis," he said after meeting business leaders on Friday.
Greece reopened its banks on Monday after it secured a 7.2
billion euro bridging loan to pay its debt obligations and
enacted tough reforms demanded by its lenders to start
negotiations on a third bailout.
The banks' three-weeks shutdown has cost Greek businesses 3
billion euros, said the head of Athens Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Constantinos Michalos, with many firms warning of
closures as a result of the capital curbs.
Greece has approved requests for money transfers totalling 1.585
billion euros from June 29 to July 23, much of it earmarked for
energy imports, according to the Bank of Greece on Friday.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou;
Editing by Ingrid Melander and Giles Elgood)
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