Greek stocks plunge ahead of audit - Gayo Lues

The bank index fell by 9.82 percent with top lenders taking heavy losses, AFP reported on Monday.

National Bank was down 11.29 percent, Alpha Bank shed 9.17 percent, Eurobank lost 10.91 percent and Piraeus Bank fell 9.59 percent.

Auditors from the so-called troika of Greek creditors — European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — return to Athens on Tuesday to grill the government about the implementation of unpopular austerity measures.

The audit will determine whether Greece would be competent to receive fresh loans of 31.5 billion euros ($ 38 billion) by September.

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its fifth year of recession because of the government-introduced harsh austerity measures.

The measures have left over a million people without jobs over the past years while Athens has continuously struggled to meet the fiscal targets in its rescue loan agreements.

The country has been the scene of numerous nationwide strikes and protests by the sacked workers, low-income workers and the students who have suffered the most as a result of the awful economic situation of the cash-stripped country.

KA/JR