It was a surprise move as he had hinged resignation on a Yes Vote for the bailout conditions.
“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; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement,” Varoufakis wrote on his personal blog.
“For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.
“I consider it my duty to help [Prime Minister] Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum. And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
Stock market traders were bracing themselves for an opening rout as Greece’s central bank goes to the European Central Bank to raise the amount of emergency funding for lenders to shore up the embattled country’s financial system.