Some 32.5 bln fled abroad on fears of Grexit
The amount of capital that was transferred out of Greek banks between late 2009, when the extent of Greece’s economic troubles started emerging, and ended in June 2012 as confidence in Greece began being restored, amounted to about 115 billion euros, a recent National Bank of Greece survey showed.
Of that amount, approximately 50 billion euros has returned to the local credit system, the survey found, meaning that the net loss of capital for Greek banks has amounted to 56.8 billion euros. With an estimated 24.3 billion still in Greece to cover household and corporate needs, or being tucked away under mattresses for safekeeping, Kathimerini calculates that about 32.5 billion euros has flown abroad. Another 19 billion euros belonging to foreigners also left Greek banks at the height of the crisis.
Fears of a Greek default and an exit from the eurozone prompted Greek money to go to Great Britain (10-15 billion euros), Germany (8 billion), the Netherlands (6-10 billion) and Switzerland (2-4 billion euros).
Another 7 billion euros was transferred to Cyprus, but only 1.5-2 billion euros remains there.
