ATHENS, Greece—Greece set a series of landmarks Monday it hopes will shore up its battered economy following months of crisis that threatened its place in the euro.
Banks reopened after more than three weeks, and the cash-strapped country got a short-term loan from European creditors to pay more than 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) owed to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Non-payment on either would have derailed Greece’s recent bailout request.
For most recession-weary Greeks, Monday was all about the price of goods in the shops as new tax rises demanded by creditors on everything from coffee to taxis took effect. And though the banks may have opened, strict limits on cash withdrawals remained.
For an economy reeling from the recent uncertainty over the country’s euro future, the continuing controls on capital and the tax rises aren’t going down too well.
Dimitris Chronis, who has been running a small kebab shop in central Athens for 20 years, says the new taxes could push his business over the edge especially when combined with higher business taxes and meat prices.
