Euro Armageddon? Greece prepares for debt default - set to trigger eurozone financial melt
Greece is getting ready to default on its debt, a move that would send the Eurozone into meltdown.
The radical-left government is currently in talks with its Eurozone creditors to approve reforms in return for a loan of €7.2billion by a deadline of 20 April.
If a deal isn't reached the government will refuse to make loan repayments worth billions of euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the Financial Times.
“We have come to the end of the road . . . If the Europeans won’t release bailout cash, there is no alternative [to a default],” a government official told the paper.
Meetings regarding Greek reforms have been ongoing and progress slow. Executives at the IMF have even reportedly said that negotiations are "not working." There are now less than four working days to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, Eurozone equity markets are hanging in the balance and such an announcement could spark a mass sell-off, which would plunge economies into chaos.
A threat of default by the debt-laden country could be enough to scare Euroleaders into accepting its terms. Though many governments have reportedly drawn up contingency plans should Greece be forced to leave the eurozone.
Last week a crisis was only narrowly averted when Greece made a €448million repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
But tensions were raised when Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras brought forward a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin from its scheduled date in May, raising fears that he could turn to Moscow for cash. Russia has previously said that it would consider a loan to Athens if it were asked.
The threat of a cosy alliance between the former Soviet state and Greece is no doubt a ploy by Mr Tsipras to apply pressure on creditors- he knows that Euro leaders do not want Putin to have any further influence on Europe.
The Greek government also provoked outrage in Germany by claiming that it owes nearly €279billion in war reparations for the Nazi occupation during World War Two.
