ATHENS - Greek voters' defiant rejection Sunday of the terms of an international bailout capped a dramatic week for the country in its standoff with EU and IMF creditors, who are demanding tough austerity measures in return for further rescue funds.
Here is a day-by-day (local time) look at the past week of financial and political drama in Greece.
Monday, July 6: Finance Minister quits
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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis addresses a news conference after a Euro zone finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg, in this June 18, 2015 file picture. [Photo/Agencies] |
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced his resignation in an announcement Monday, after his compatriots voted No to a bailout offer in a highly controversial referendum.
He said the decision was made in view of " a certain 'preference' by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for my ... 'absence' from its meetings."
It was "an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement," he added.
Monday, July 6: Stocks fall
The euro and stock prices fell sharply at the market open in Asia on Monday but then recovered some of their losses, with dealers emphasising that markets were orderly and showing no signs of financial strain.
European stock and bond markets were expected to take a hit when they open for trading later on Monday.
In Athens, thousands of jubilant Greeks waving flags and bursting fire crackers poured into the city's central square as official figures showed 61 percent of Greeks had rejected a deal that would have imposed more austerity measures on an already ravaged economy.
Without more emergency funding from the European Central Bank, Greece's banks could run out of cash within days after a week of rising desperation as banks shut and cash machines ran dry. That might force the government to issue another currency to pay pensions and wages.
For millions of Greeks the outcome was an angry message to creditors that Greece can no longer accept repeated rounds of austerity that, in five years, had left one in four without a job and shrank the economy by a quarter.