希腊或退出欧元区 民众忙取现囤货

Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many citizens fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro.

Bankers said up to 800 million euros were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods in case of shortages, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election.

The last published opinion polls showed the conservative New Democracy party, which backs the 130-billion-euro bailout that is keeping Greece afloat, running neck-and-neck with the leftist SYRIZA party, which wants to cancel the rescue deal.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund have warned that Greece, which has only enough cash to last for a few weeks, must stick to the conditions of the bailout deal or risk seeing funds cut off.

Fears that Greece will collapse financially and leave the euro have slowly drained Greek banks over the last two years. Central bank figures show that deposits shrank by about 17 percent, or 35.4 billion euros in 2011 and stood at 165.9 billion euros at end-April.

Bankers said the pace was picking up ahead of the vote, with combined daily deposit outflows from the major banks at 500-800 million euros over the past few days, and 10-30 million euros at smaller banks.

"This includes cash withdrawals, wire transfers and investments into money market funds, German Bunds, US Treasuries and EIB bonds," said one banker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Retailers said consumers were stocking up on non-perishable food while almost all other goods were seeing a huge drop in sales as cash-strapped Greeks have no money to spare in the country's fifth year of recession.

"People are terrified by the prospect of returning to the drachma and some believe it's good to fill their cupboard with food products," said Vassilis Korkidis, head of the ESEE retail federation.

"It's over the top, we must not panic. Filling the cupboard with food doesn't mean we will escape the crisis," he said.

Supermarkets said they did not see a rise in profits as people spend less money. But sales of staples like pasta have gone up.

因为担心本周日紧张的大选后希腊将退出欧元区，希腊民众纷纷奔赴银行取现，并大量囤积食物。

希腊主要银行每天有高达8亿欧元资金流出。来自零售商的消息称，因为担心供应短缺，很多人用取出的钱购买面条和罐装食物。有传言称激进的左翼领导人将在大选中获胜，激起人们对重返旧币德拉克马时代的担心。

最新公布的民调结果显示，保守的新民主党与左派政党激进左翼联盟党支持率不相上下。新民主党支持正维持着希腊经济的1300亿欧元援助计划，而激进左翼联盟党想要取消援助计划。

欧盟和国际货币基金组织已警告希腊，必须坚持援助协议，否则资金将面临中断风险。希腊的现金仅够维持几周。

对希腊经济崩溃以及退出欧元区的恐慌已使希腊的银行在过去两年内慢慢被“取空”。希腊央行的数据显示，2011年银行存款大约削减了17%，合354亿欧元，而截至今年4月底这一数字已达到1659亿欧元。

银行方面称，如今临近大选，存款流失的速度又在上升。过去一段时间，希腊主要银行每天流出的存款总量多达5亿至8亿欧元，而小型银行每天流出的存款总量达1000万至3000万欧元。

一位没有透露姓名的银行业者说：“这包括取现、电汇、购买货币市场基金，以及购买德国、美国和欧洲投资银行的债券。”

零售商称，很多人在储存不易腐坏的食品，而几乎所有其它类食品的销量都出现大幅下跌，因为希腊的经济衰退已经历时五年，人们已经没有闲钱花了。

希腊零售商组织ESEE的负责人瓦斯里斯-柯克蒂斯说：“人们都很害怕回到旧货币时代，不少人都想往自家的橱柜里多装些食物。”

他说：“这太夸张了，我们不能恐慌。即便你把你的橱柜全填满，也不意味着你能躲过危机。”

超市方面表示，人们在节省开销，利润并未上升，但面条等日常必需品的销量已经显著上升。