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Greek voices from the frontline of the debt crisis

• 3 hours ago
 
• From the sectionEurope

Billions of euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks and there are signs of nervousness from depositors

Stock markets around Europe and Asia have fallen with growing fears of a Greek debt default and exit from the eurozone as the country's financial crisis deepens.

Here are some of the voices from Greece on how daily lives have been affected by country's money worries.

"I'm working 12 hours a day" - Theodoros Tzokas, Cafe owner

Theodoros Tzokas says his business keeps suffering because he is losing customers every day

There seems to be a huge cloud of insecurity hanging over my head every day. My business which took me ages to build keeps suffering because I am losing customers every day. My loyal customers' behaviours keep changing on a daily basis because of this crisis.

I had to let all my good employees go, because I can't keep them anymore. I am working over 12 hours a day because I have no employees any more to help me out. It's really tough but there isn't much I can do.

I am not sure how long I can keep going like this. The only good thing is that I don't have to queue up for cash like most people because I have been putting money away at home for a long time. I knew we were going to have these crises so I made the decision not to save in the bank.

"There's simply no cash left" - Ilia Iatrou, former English teacher

Ilia Iatrou says people have now resorted to a sort of barter system in her neighbourhood because of cash shortage.

Greece should continue to say no to the EU demands because the country can't take any more of the ongoing austerity measures. Frankly, the situation is unbearable over here.

My mother-in-law queued up for over an hour at the cash point just to be able to withdraw a small amount of money. I haven't tried to go to the cash machine myself, as we don't have much money left. There's simply no cash left in the system.

Some of us have been forced to now resort to a sort of barter system among ourselves because we have no money left. We just can't take any more of this, so we have to keep saying no to the EU masters. The EU can't afford to let us fail so we should continue to say no and they will blink and give us a better deal.

"This can't carry on" - Evi Stamou, Orthodontist in Athens

Evi Stamou says she queued at several cash points - which all ran out of cash - but eventually I managed to get money out

I run my own practice in Athens and am finding it hard to pay my employees. There is no cash in the system at the moment. My customers can't pay me so this is having an unfair knock on effect on my employees' pay.

Luckily, I took some money out a while back because I knew we would have this problem. The money is keeping me afloat at the moment but it's running out.

I queued at several cash points - which all ran out of cash - but eventually I managed to get money out from one of them. This can't carry on and I think we need a deal. Most people want out of the euro but I think it's a bad idea.

"We have lost all our employees" - Susan Benekos, British woman living in Greece for 28 years

Susan Benekos went to the cash point yesterday but couldn't get anything

My family business has suffered tremendously and we have lost all our employees, because there's no business. Recently, I couldn't take cash out from the bank.

The situation is dire and we are running out of money. We went to the cash point yesterday but couldn't get anything. The problem is many businesses are now accepting only cash and no cards so it's really hard to do anything.

This crisis is really destroying our lives. I have friends who have had to go live with their parents because they can't afford to pay their rent.

"Everyone is really tense" - Panos Spiropoulos and Katerina Karneris, run a coffee distribution business in Greece

Panos Spiropoulos and Katerina Karneris say they have survived the crisis so far because of their diligent atitude toward their business

The economy was beginning to pick up again late 2014 but now we seem to have gone backwards after the elections. The uncertainty is damaging our business. We don't know how we are going to pay our suppliers in the coming month since our customers are feeling the pinch from the crisis.

Frankly we have survived the crisis so far because we have been very diligent and put lots of money away. Just like most people we are all fearful that we will lose our money if Greece crashes out of the euro.

The laid back atmosphere in the country has also taken a hit making it difficult to express your political point of view in public without some sort of backlash. Everyone is really tense here making it hard to enjoy this beautiful country.

Produced by Nana Prempeh.