Closed banks and capital controls until referendum

 In wake of MPs approving plebiscite, gov't agrees to emergency measures after ECB decides not to lift limit on liquidity

Greece heads to a referendum on Sunday that could decide whether its future lies in or out of the eurozone, with its banks closed and capital controls in place after the European Central Bank decided not to further increase the emergency liquidity it supplies to local lenders.

The decision to impose the extended bank holiday was taken during a meeting of Greece?s financial stability council, which included Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

The official announcement had not been made at the time of going to press but sources said that ATM withdrawals would be limited to 60 euros per day per account and that banks would remain closed for at least the next six working days, including the day after the referendum on the institutions? proposals to Greece. Visitors to Greece will be able to withdraw cash up to the limit set by their bank.

The decision to shut down banks and bring in capital controls came less than 24 hours after Parliament voted in favor, by 178 votes to 120, of holding a referendum on Sunday. This, combined with the expiration of Greece?s bailout extension Tuesday, prompted the ECB governing council, which met Sunday, to decide not to raise the Emergency Liquidity Assistance ceiling beyond the level it reached on Friday.

This meant that banks would not have enough liquidity to support the spike in withdrawals prompted by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calling a referendum on Friday night. Around 1 billion euros was taken out of accounts on Saturday as Greeks queued at ATMs around the country. There were longer queues Sunday.

Tsipras blamed the country?s...