The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Greece have announced that they are looking to create an exemption from capital controls for any money that Greeks deposit in local banks that they have been stashing in home safety deposit boxes or stuffed in mattresses.
They are hoping that this will serve as an incentive for people to start depositing their hidden money in banks, a total amount that is estimated at around 30 billion euros.
The Bank of Greece is proposing to qualify the undeclared cash in safe deposit boxes and mattresses as “new money,” Central banker Yannis Stournaras told the Greek newspaper Avgi on Sunday. Therefore, the hope is that the money will not be subject to capital controls.
“What applies to money from abroad will apply to the money that is being kept under mattresses,” Stournaras said, “so anyone will be able to put it in and take it out of their account as they wish, without going under any capital control.”
The request for the initiation of the proposed measure must first be approved by the European Central Bank, which is the process for any change to capital controls in Greece.
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