ATHENS:
Greeks woke up to shuttered banks and closed cash machines on Monday as a breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors pushed the austerity-battered country to the brink, according to foreign sources.
After receiving no extra emergency funding for Greek lenders from the European Central Bank, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reluctantly imposed capital controls on Sunday night to prevent banks from collapsing under the weight of mass withdrawals.
Greece has less than 48 hours to pay back 1.6 billion euros ($1.77 billion) of International Monetary Fund loans, and a default would set in train events that could lead to the country’s eventual exit from the euro currency bloc.
