(Reuters) - The Greek central bank warned on Wednesday that the country would be put on a “painful course” towards default and exiting the euro zone if the government and its international creditors failed to reach an agreement on an aid-for-reforms deal.
It also said the country’s economic slowdown was likely to accelerate in the second quarter of this year, and that the ongoing crisis had prompted an outflow of deposits of about 30 billion euros ($33.84 billion) from Greek lenders between October and April.
“Failure to reach an agreement would … mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and, most likely, from the European Union,” the Bank of Greece said in a report.
“Striking an agreement with our partners is a historical imperative that we cannot afford to ignore.”
($1 = 0.8866 euros)
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Matthias Williams, editing by Deepa Babington)
