Greece orders banks closed for a week after run on ATMs

ATHENS: Greece announced early Monday it will shut banks for a week and impose capital controls, pleading for calm after anxious citizens emptied cash machines in a dramatic escalation of the country’s debt crisis.

Banks will be closed until July 6—the day after a referendum on bailout proposals—with a 60-euro ($65) limit on ATM withdrawals, but foreign tourists, a vital engine of the Greek economy, will be exempt from the restrictions, a decree published in the official government gazette said.