Greece’s finance minister resigns

Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned his cabinet post just hours after Greek voters backed his call to reject creditors’ austerity measure proposals.

The outspoken finance minister – who last week accused Greece’s creditors of “terrorism” – says he feels his departure would be helpful to finding a solution to the country's debt woes.

“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some eurogroup participants, and assorted partners, for my … absence from its meetings,” Mr Varoufakis says.

He says Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras judged this idea to be potentially helpful in coming to an agreement with creditors.

“We of the left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office.”

Euclid Tsakalotos, an Oxford education economist who has been heading negotiations with Greece’s creditors, has been appointed to take over as finance minister.  

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Mr Tsipras the door is open for debt negotiations but have reiterated a “serious” proposal needs to be made.

Mr Hollande has stressed that time is running out and there is “urgency for Greece and urgency for Europe."

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde offered the embattled nation an olive branch.

“The IMF has taken note of yesterday’s referendum held in Greece. We are monitoring the situation closely and stand ready to assist Greece if requested to do so,” Ms Lagarde said in a statement.

Last week, Greece defaulted on its IMF loan, meaning the fund will no longer provide Greece with aid packages, which it has been relying on to pay public sector wages and pensions.

Greece will lose access to the more than €16 billion in IMF financial support it has not yet used.

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced it will maintain a cap on emergency liquidity at €89 billion, meaning the ECB is treating Greek bonds as riskier.

“The governing council is closely monitoring the situation in financial markets and the potential implications for the monetary policy stance and for the balance of risks to price stability in the euro area. The governing council is determined to use all the instruments available within its mandate,” the ECB said in a statement.