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Village of Oia, in the popular tourist destination of Santorini, Greece

Over in Greece, tourism is helping to boost economic sentiment according to the eurozone’s statistics agency, Eurostat. It comes as the country prepares to further ease capital controls. Helena Smith reports from Athens:

Reaping the dividends of a bumper tourism season, Greece saw its economic sentiment indicator rise to 99 points this month from 98.2 points in July. While the index is still in negative territory - optimism is only measured at 100 points - it was the strongest in 12 months and is being interpreted as another turning point for the eurozone’s weakest economy.

In another sign of growing confidence in the Greek economy, the leftist-led government is to allow bank depositors to withdraw more of their savings as of tomorrow (September 1st). The move will see the cap on withdrawals being increased by 7% to €1,800 a month. As part of the relaxation, opening of new accounts will be facilitated for farmers, companies and freelancers.

The restrictive measures were imposed at the height of the country’s debt crisis in the summer of 2015 amid fears of a run on banks. However, it has not been lost on many that total annual withdrawals will actually amount to less. Under the new “relaxed” rules, depositors will be able to withdraw €21,600 euro a year, compared with €21,840 under the old rules.