Greek PM hopes capital controls can be lifted in first-half of 2016

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday he hoped capital controls imposed at the height of the country's debt crisis in July can be lifted in the first half of next year.

Addressing a conference of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce, Tsipras said his leftist government had taken the first steps to address non-performing loans and recapitalise banks so they could start lending again to the economy.

Tsipras said the Greek economy was doing better than had been expected when capital controls and a three-week bank holiday were imposed in July to stop deposit flight. The measures severely limited cash withdrawals and sending money abroad.

He added that Greece was doing everything in its power to conclude as far as possible a successful first review of its new reform programme so it could start debt relief negotiations and restore confidence in the economy.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Paul Taylor; Writing by Paul Taylor)