Greek banks reopen as government orders $7.4B payment

ATHENS, Greece, July 20 (UPI) -- Banks in Greece reopened Monday after three weeks since doors were shut due to the financial crisis that forced austerity measures rejected by the country's people.

People in Greece were restricted to withdrawing about $66 a day in the past weeks due to capital controls, but that limit will be converted to a weekly one of about $455 -- meaning people won't need to travel to ATMs daily.

The reopening of banks has reportedly gone smoothly without incident.

Greece has a $4.5 billion payment due on Monday to the European Central Bank, which it is expected to pay with a $7.6 billion bridge loan it received Friday.

Bloomberg reported that Greece ordered about $7.4 billion in payments to its creditors to pay for current debt payments and past payments it missed.

Essentially, Greece is using the most recent loan received to pay for former loans from creditors.

The Greek government was able to reach a deal on July 13 with its international creditors, European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, which demanded strict financial reforms to be enacted before bailout funds could be delivered to the country.

More than 60 percent of Greeks voted against the economic reforms in a historic referendum.

In the economic reforms, Greece must raise taxes as part of; corporate taxes for small companies raised by three percent, a luxury tax on large cars, boats and swimming pools raised by three percent and a farmers' tax raised by 13 percent.

The reforms also end early retirement and require the retirement age to be raised from 65 to 67. Greece passed the reforms late Wednesday.