Greek store owners are reporting a huge rise in the amount of spending on luxury good in the country as rich Greeks – having had access to their daily cash withdrawals restricted to $67 per day – are using their reserves to plow money into top-end luxury goods that will retain their value irrespective of what happens after a crucial series of meetings this weekend.
Greeks would rather have physical goods than money in the bank right now — http://t.co/OB4CMAMljd pic.twitter.com/k9FYMo2vfy
— Four Pins (@Four_Pins) July 9, 2015
Many are desperately trying to move cash assets into property assets for fear that a desperate government could make a raid on the savings of high-income Greeks in the coming weeks as the country struggles to repay its bailout loans and keep up public sector and pension payments.
"Some high-income individuals are using debit and credit cards to reduce their cash exposure," said Nikos Magginas, a senior economist at the National Bank of Greece. He told The Times:
"We are seeing a surge of strategic spending by high-income individuals on discretionary goods and even the paying down of their taxation or social security obligations."
Makis Andriotis, 36, a graphic designer, said he had bought himself a MacBook Pro laptop for €1,900 using his debit card as a return to the drachma would massively increase its value.
Take a Chef to the Lev
Meanwhile, it’s being reported that some businesses in the north of Greece are accepting the Bulgarian lev as payment from their neighboring visitors.
Bulgarian lev makes inroads in Greece https://t.co/OJD8C0nRJs via @pietercleppe pic.twitter.com/SPERO91klI
— Dan Popescu (@PopescuCo) July 3, 2015
Rumen Galabinov, a Bulgarian businessman told the EUobserver website: "Automatic teller machines in Thessaloniki had run out of cash and nobody could withdraw even five euros.
"After a lunch at a local restaurant, I joked, asking whether they would accept a payment in levs," he said. "And the owner agreed."
He also predicted that Greek businesses and private depositors could start travelling to Bulgaria to withdraw money from Greek bank branches there. These branches are companies established under Bulgarian law and they are not subject to the Greek capital controls.
