ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s five-year financial crisis took its most dramatic turn yet, with the cabinet deciding after an eight-hour session that Greek banks would remain shut for six business days and restrictions would be imposed on cash withdrawals.
The Athens Stock Exchange would also not open Monday, financial sector officials confirmed.
The moves were meant to stanch the flow of money out of Greek banks and spur the country’s creditors to offer concessions before a bailout program expires Tuesday. The accelerating crisis has thrown into question Greece’s financial future and continued membership in the 19-nation shared euro currency — and even the European Union. Asian stock markets sank with indexes in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney down more than 2 percent. Oil prices and the euro also fell.
For the past two days, Greeks have been rushing to ATMs to withdraw money across the country following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ sudden weekend decision to call a referendum on creditor proposals for Greek reforms in return for vital bailout funds.