Did the capital controls save Greece?
A year ago, at the height of the Greek crisis, the government in Athens introduced capital controls to prevent a bank run which would lead to the banks' collapse. The controls have been eased but not entirely lifted. The Greek media are still at odds over their effectiveness.
Common sense prevailed
Prime Minister Tsipras's decision to introduce capital controls a year ago has saved Greece, the business paper Imerisia is convinced:
“No one can doubt that Tsipras managed the situation with admirable skilfulness and political courage one year ago, a situation for which he bore a large part of the responsibility. … Fortunately for the country, and also for the government, common sense prevailed in 2015. … A Grexit could only have been a terrible nightmare. The capital controls that are still in place remind us of this. Twelve months later those in charge and the central bank still don't dare remove them. Tsipras's change of course saved the country, even though it meant cutbacks.”
Economy has suffered huge damage
Capital controls are still doing huge damage to the economy, To Vima counters:
“We had to recapitalise the banks and the taxpayers had to foot the bill. Bank savings were transferred abroad, hundreds of companies were left in an impasse which in turn led to the loss of jobs. New companies couldn't be established because there was no money to finance them, exporting goods has become more difficult and consumption has dropped dramatically. … And all of that because a deluded government preferred to gamble away the country's future in a referendum.”