The Greek government attributed Wednesday’s bank share massive sell-off and the sharp drop of the general index in the Athens Stock Exchange to “speculative pressures”.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called an emergency meeting with competent ministers and officials to discuss “Black Wednesday”, as analysts have called the day bank shares reached a limit down.
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Minister of State Alekos Flambouraris, and Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis were among the top officials in the meeting.
The banking index plunged more than 17 percent during the trading day and ended 8.78 percent lower. The general index dropped 2.1 percent at the end of the day.
Nevertheless, the government officials attributed the bank share massive sell-off in the Athens bourse as the result of pressing speculation and stated that the Greek banking system is fundamentally healthy, according to a press release from the prime minister’s office.
The press release also said that Greek banks passed successfully the stress tests in May, they have adequate capital, surpassed the target of NPL reductions in the first half of 2018, deposits have increased and their dependence on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) has been reduced.
