How a liquidity squeeze could push Greece out of the euro

Milan

THE stand-off between Greece and its creditors on how to proceed on its bailout programme risks triggering a simultaneous cash and credit crunch, which could drive the country out of the euro area.

Here is how a worst-case scenario could unfold: The Greek government, companies and lenders have all effectively lost access to international markets, due to the uncertainty over the country's future. The current sources of liquidity are bailout funds from the euro-area nations, the currency bloc's crisis fund, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank's (ECB) Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA).