Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Advice For The Oncoming Grexit

It is clear that Greece will leave the Euro, the only uncertainty being when.

Aside from George Osborne publicly stating that Greece may be forced to leave the Eurozone (ie sacrificed) in order to save the Euro, Greek banks have seen a marked increase in the pace of bank withdrawals as the general election nears (combined daily deposit outflows from the major Greek banks have reached 500-800 million euros over the past few days, with the pace picking up as the election draws closer).

Therefore what do you do if you are planning to travel to Greece (on business or for pleasure) in the coming weeks, and are caught up in a Grexit?

My personal advice is to take some spare cash with you in a sock (or equivalent). When Greece leaves the Euro there will be, at the very least, the following "events":

- an imposition of capital and border controls,
- atms will run out of cash
- foreign banks and companies will treat Greece as a "plague ship", and stop all financial dealings in the short-term
- credit cards will not be accepted by many establishments (in fact this is already the case)
- there will be issues of street and civil disorder to contend with
- airports will be full, as foreigners rush to leave

The above "events" are not pleasant to contemplate, but anyone who is planning to go to Greece in the coming weeks needs to be aware of what may happen.

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