Greek Minister Katrougalos Rules Out Country's Banks Nationalization

Greek officials don't have plans of nationalization of country's banks and want Greece to remain in eurozone, Alternate Minister of Administrative Reform told reporters Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Greek authorities do not plan to nationalize the country's banking system, George Katrougalos told the Sky News TV channel.

Syriza minister George Katrougalos has told @SkyNews that the Greek government will not nationalise the banks

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) 29 июня 2015

On Tuesday, Greece's current bailout program and the deadline for its June repayment to the International Monetary Fund expire.

"We do not have as alternative this [nationalization of Greek banks]. What we want is to keep our country in Europe, but not in the Europe of austerity," Katrougalos said.

Greece's aggregate debt exceeds $350 billion, of which $270 billion is owed to the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the eurozone countries.

Before the end of June deadline, Greece should repay $1.7 billion to the IMF alone. Earlier on Monday, media reports, citing a Greek government official, said the debt-ridden country would not pay its next loan repayment to the IMF.

Following several rounds of talks, Greece and its international creditors failed to reach an agreement on Athens' multi-billion dollar debt settlement.

Earlier in the day, Greek authorities decided to establish capital controls by closing banks for six business days and limiting financial transactions in the country.